The Band
by DWalkthroughGuy
Summary: Gumball thinks he got rejected when Penny went to a One Correction concert, and takes drastic measures to stop them from taking his title as The Most Liked Person in Penny's Opinion!
1. The Band

Darwin walked in the bedroom. "Hey Gumball!" He said.

"Hey Darwin!" He replied.

"Whatcha doin' on the computer?" Darwin peeked over his shoulder to find him on Elmore Plus, Elmore's own social media site. But Gumball wasn't just on his profile, he was looking at someone else's: Penny.

"Dude, are you stalking Penny again?" Darwin asked suspiciously. Gumball looked at Darwin sheepishly.

"No. No, I wouldn't do that. No, never."

Darwin put his hands on his hips. "Really? Because you've been on Elmore Plus for three hours now."

"Young Darwin, whenever you enter the room, you just so happen to see me on Elmore Plus, when in reality, I'm surfin' the web, checking on different sites, exploring the gateways of knowledge and-" Darwin began to type on the keyboard. "What're you doing?"

"How do you explain this then?" Darwin opened up the Internet History to reveal unsurprisingly similar results:

* * *

Elmore Plus - Penny Fitzgerald' s Profile Home

Elmore Plus - Penny Fitzgerald' s Photo Albums (Page 1/4)

Elmore Plus - Penny Fitzgerald' s Photo Albums (Page 2/4)

Elmore Plus - Penny Fitzgerald' s Photo Albums (Page 3/4)

Elmore Plus - Penny Fitzgerald' s Photo Albums (Page 4/4)

Elmore Plus - Post a Comment on Penny Fitzgerald' s Profile

Elmore Plus - Post a Comment on Penny's Status Update

Elmore Plus - Penny Fitzgerald' s Bio

Elmore Plus - Home of Elmore Plus

* * *

"And that's just today," Darwin says. Gumball sighs.

"Yeah you're right. I'm a bit of a stalker," Gumball admits. Darwin looks at Gumball with pity. Darwin knows that he likes her, and he knows that Gumball's too shy to make a move.

"Why don't you just ask her out?" Darwin suggests.

"Penny? No... No dude. I have a strong feeling I'm gonna get rejected," Gumball says.

"Aww come on. It's not like it's gonna be end of the world or anything. Just be yourself and make it look like you know what you're doing. Rejection is just part of the whole love cycle," Darwin explains. Gumball looks up.

"Yeah. Now that I think of it, this should be easy. He-he. I'm not sure why I was so scared in the first place!" His confidence grows as he shuts down the computer. "Tomorrow will be the beginning of a new era!"

* * *

Gumball was shaking in the bus seat. "Dude, are you really that nervous?" Darwin wonders.

"Y-yeah dude. I-I am-am," the seat Gumball and Darwin were sitting on was rattling. Darwin stroked him gently. "It'll be okay dude. Just ask her after school. No biggie," Darwin reassures.

The whole day, Gumball was shivering. He's done this plenty of times. The only problem is he was so scared he bailed at the last minute. Every time. Perfect moments when they were alone, had a nice view or it was raining and one of them was sad.

It was finally the time of truth. Time to finally ask Penny out on a date. Gumball was a nervous wreck. For the whole day he was a whole pessimist about the situation, and his confidence didn't help at all.

"Alright buddy. You can do this. You got this?" Darwin said. He put on a cap, wore a whistle and held a clipboard.

"I got this bro!" Gumball replied. They smashed their heads together.

"You got this?!"

"I can do this!"

"What?"

"I said I can do this!"

"Say that again? I couldn't hear you over the wimpiness!"

"I CAN SO DO THIS!"

"Now get out there and show her what you got!"

Gumball did a few heavy breathing exercises and jogged in place, stretching out his muscles as if he were to fight in a boxing ring. He took a few paces forward.

And he lost all of his confidence.

He was shaky all over again. He managed to take a few baby steps toward the peanut girl, who was talking to Terri and Carmen. He looked back at Darwin, still sporting the coach attire. Darwin urged him forward. "Uh..Uh hi Penny," he squeaked.

"Oh. Hey Gumball!" She replied. Gumball wished he had Penny's confidence right now. So calm. So relaxed.

"I was wondering maybe... um... maybe tonight you wanted to go... You know... to the movies with me? At 6?" Gumball asked timidly. This is the best he could possibly do.

"Oh, I'd love to Gumball!" She replied.

Gumball perked up. All the pessimism in his body flushed away. "Great!"

"Well, that was a bit anticlimactic," Darwin said to himself.

"...but I can't." Penny said. Gumball, pretending that he didn't hear anything, asked,

"What was that?"

"I said I can't go to the movies with you tonight."

"What? Why?" Gumball asked. He was on the verge of tears.

"Well, I bought some tickets for Terri, Carmen and me to the One Correction concert. Sorry about that," she explained.

Gumball's pessimism gurgled back into him. Just then, Mr. Fitzgerald's black car pulls up. "Gotta go. See you later!" The three girls all climb in the black car. They were obviously excited about the new concert in town, but Gumball just wasted every drop of courage he had in his body. Now he has nothing but rejection.

"See?! I told you I would get rejected!" Gumball screams at Darwin. Darwin takes off his cap in sympathy.

"Sorry, man," was all he managed to say.

"Ugh. It's okay."

* * *

"So, how was school today?" Nicole asked the kids.

"School was awesome! We reviewed the physics of time dilation and how time goes slower at higher speeds. I also learned that at the speed of light, time stops," Anais says. Nicole stared at her daughter not understanding a word she said.

"That's great, honey! Gumball, how was your day?" Gumball picked at his food with his fork.

"Fine," he said.

"Gumball, I know it wasn't. What happened Darwin?"

"Gumball got rejected by Penny," he replied. "He's still having trouble coming to terms with it." Darwin pets Gumball, trying to comfort him. Anais and her father let out a giggle.

"Aww. Why so?" His mother questioned.

"She went to a concert with her friends," Gumball explained.

"From who? One Correction?" Anais joked. She and Richard laughed.

"Actually yes," Gumball said monotonously.

"Oh," Anais said. She fell silent.

"Wait a minute. That's it!" Gumball remarks. "It's because of them I can't hang out with Penny!"

"There's really nothing you can do about it," Darwin comments, taking a bite out of his dinner.

"Yes I can, Darwin! And I am determined to stop that band!"

* * *

**Well, what is Gumball thinking of now? How is he going to stop One Correction from getting between his relationship with Penny? Find out in the next chapter of "The Band"!**

**Thanks for reading, if you happened get this far.**

**-DWalkthroughGuy**


	2. The Pencil

Gumball wolfs down his dinner and runs upstairs. "It's because of them!" He kept saying. He slammed the door shut behind him and immediately got on the computer. "I gotta know my enemy before I fight it!"

He furiously types on the computer and searches for One Correction. "A BOY BAND?! I'm against a teen team." Gumball continues his search. "So five people against one kid. Two, counting Darwin." Darwin walks in the room.

"Dude, I think you're taking all of this a bit too seriously," Darwin comments. Gumball spins around in the black swivel chair.

"Young Darwin, Sun Tzu once said, 'If fighting is to result in victory, then you must fight!'. If I need to fight my enemy, I gotta know my enemy. Know what I mean?" Gumball explains. Darwin only rolls his eyes.

"Sure, Gumball. I understand-"

"Great!" Gumball returns to the computer and reads more about One Correction. By the time he was through, he learned where each one of them live, their favorite foods, all upcoming concerts and what they like to do when they're bored. By the time Gumball was through, it was also 11:00. Gumball even took notes on all of their possible weaknesses and potentially useful information in the long run. After hearing keystrokes and mouse clicks, Nicole opens the door slowly as not to awaken the sleeping kids.

"Gumball Watterson! What are you doing up so late at night?" she whispers furiously. "You have school tomorrow! Get to bed immediately!" Gumball nods and shuts down the computer. He takes the notebook he scribbled notes on and goes to the bathroom to change and brush his teeth. "Are you doing a last-minute homework assignment?" Gumball's mother said as he exited the room.

Gumball shakes his head. "I'm finding the weak points of this One Correction. I need to take them down!"

"Gumball, I think you're taking all of this a bit too seriously," she comments. He sighs.

"Don't worry, Mom. After I figure out the best strategy to take them down, the others can have the computer until 2 AM for all I care. I just really want to get rid of them," Gumball remarks. He grabs his toothbrush, wets it under the faucet and applies a pea-sized amount of toothpaste on it.

"But Gumball, these are professionals. They have bodyguards, bulletproof limos-the kinds of things that would stop you from stopping them," Nicole tries to explain.

"No Mom. If I don't stop them, Penny will fall in a love coma and she'll never pay attention to me ever again!" Gumball says while he's brushing his teeth. "I just don't want this to escalate too far."

"I think you'll be the one that takes it too far," Mom replies.

* * *

Gumball takes his notebook down to the table at breakfast the next morning. "Dude, are you still into that whole take down thing with that boy band?" Darwin asks, pouring a bowl of Daisy Flakes. Gumball furiously scribbles down some notes.

"You bet I am! Today I'm gonna figure out the possible symptoms before a love coma and how it may affect Penny," Gumball describes. He puts some sugar on his cereal and takes a spoonful. "I've heard of these love comas. They're pretty crazy." Anais comes downstairs.

"Good morning, guys," she greets.

"Hello, Anais," the two reply.

"So your still into that whole take down thing with that boy band?" Anais asks. Gumball sighs and nods. Anais gets a bowl from the cupboard. "So what's your plan? Good luck getting past security."

Gumball smirks. "Security if the best they can do? HA! They'll be crying back to their moms after I'm done with them," he says. Anais raises an eyebrow.

"That wasn't that good," she comments. Gumball finishes his last spoonful of cereal and puts away the bowl in the kitchen sink. He jots down more notes and hypotheses as he walks upstairs. "I think he's overreacting over that concert." Anais whispers to Darwin. He nods in agreement.

"He stayed up until nearly midnight last night researching One Correction. From our perspective, it looks like HE'S the addicted one. What should we do?" Darwin adds. Anais thinks for a moment on her high chair.

"Well, what would Gumball do?" Anais says.

"He would use drastic measures to destroy One Correction," Darwin predicts.

"Exactly. We have to fight fire with fire!" Anais exclaims.

"Wouldn't that burn the house down?" Darwin questions (The Kiss reference).

"No, no. We have to stop Gumball with the same level of intensity. On a scale of one to ten, where would Gumball be?" Anais replies.

"Ten," Darwin says without hesitation. Anais stops and stares at her brother for a minute.

"What I mean is that we have to fight back at a ten as well. If were at a five, we wouldn't go overboard and use a seven. We would equal it out to a five. And because you, think, that Gumball is at a ten, we have to fight back at a ten. See what I mean?" Darwin nods in understanding.

"So what are we gonna do with Gumball?"

"First we gotta see the first move he makes. Then we have to try and cancel it with another move," the bunny explains. She too finishes her bowl of cereal and gets down from her high chair.

* * *

Gumball meets up with Penny at lunch. "Hey, Penny!" Gumball greets. Penny spots him and waves back. "So about the concert..." he begins.

"Oh. I'm sorry again-"

"No, not that. I was just wondering how you felt about One Correction," he corrects. He takes out a steno pad and a small golf pencil. "On a scale of one to ten, how much do you like me?" Gumball smiles sheepishly. Penny blushes a bit at the thought of it.

"I'd give you an eight, of course."

"And where would you rate One Correction?"

"An eight." Gumball finishes his notes.

"Mhmm. Now have you felt any discomforts or uncomfortable symptoms?"

Penny thinks about it for a moment. "I had a few cuts on my hand, but that was because I got a paper cut from Terri and I accidentally touched Carmen."

"Good. How much would you rate One Correction before the concert?" Gumball asks.

"Maybe a five. They performed well last night-"

"Ah ha! That's just about the right amount of info necessary! Thanks Penny!"

"You're welcome?" Penny replies. She shrugs and walks with her tray with her friends.

Gumball runs off with his steno pad. He perches the golf pencil on his right ear. Darwin spots him running and waves to him. Gumball returns the wave.

"Where were you this whole time? And what's with the mini-pencil?" Darwin says. He takes a bite out of his sandwich. Gumball puts down his steno pad and reviews the information from the interrogation. Gumball answers,

"Finding a security breach."

* * *

**Welp, that's it for the second chapter for this. Let's find out if Gumball ever finds an effective way to get rid of One Correction in the next chapter of "The Band"!**

**Thanks anyways.**

**-DWalkthroughGuy**


	3. The Transaction

"What have you found so far?" Darwin questioned.

"I found out she liked One Correction more after the concert. They're at an eight, I'm at an eight. We're tied. I canNOT let them take my title as the most liked person in Penny's opinion," Gumball reviews his work on the steno pad.

"Gumball, this isn't a competition. I think she'll still love you nonetheless," Darwin finishes up his sandwich.

"No Darwin. One Correction jumped from a five to an eight in just one concert. Imagine if there was another one. And not to mention the small, tiny factors such as internet fan fiction, posters in her room and girly conversations with her friends!" Darwin raises an eyebrow. "I need more intel before I put a plan in effect."

"Yeah. Great idea buddy," Darwin says, not caring about the situation anymore. He takes his tray and goes to put it away.

* * *

"Penny, can I come over tonight to your house?" Gumball asks innocently. "I think I might've left my math book there."

"But you're holding it right now," Penny points to the green textbook. He puts it behind his back. "And you've never studied with me, except the time when my dad crashed our car into your house (The Knights)."

"Well, I need to get away from my family anyways..."

"Why?"

"Umm... Germany?" They stood in silence for a minute.

"Well, whatever the reason, I'll let you come over."

"Yay!" Gumball rejoices.

"But you can't make so much noise, and you can't stay for long."

"Why?"

"Well, even though my dad kind of thinks your okay, he doesn't want random people going in the house without his consent. Especially my room." Gumball nods, pretending to understand.

"Well, I'll come over at... 4!"

"Too early. I have cheerleader practice."

"8?"

"We're all getting ready to go to bed."

"Fine. 6," Gumball tries.

"We're having dinner at that time."

"11!" Gumball says, becoming more frustrated.

"Everyone's asleep! Look. Never mind about tonight. How about you come over in the weekend. I'm sure my dad will understand." Gumball sighs.

"Okay fine."

* * *

"Dude, I'm pretty sure she's telling the truth."

"Or maybe she's resisting because she's too busy listening young people's music!" He thinks of the malevolent actions he would do to One Correction if he had the chance.

"Why do you want to go there anyways?" Darwin questions.

"So I can investigate any factors that may increase the likelihood of Penny losing interest in me-" Darwin sighs for a long time.

"For the last time, she will NOT lose interest in you! Penny's a great girl! She would never leave you for a boy band!"

"Are you sure?"

"Whatever dude," Darwin says, walking away.

* * *

After dinner, Gumball went to the bathroom immediately and changed into a ninja costume from two Halloweens ago. It was so loose, it looked more like a blanket, so they had to say he was a dark ghost. Now it fit Gumball perfectly. Gumball walks into the bedroom to see a silhouette in the window. The moon shone right behind him, adding a dramatic effect. "Mr. Watterson. What a pleasant surprise," a middle-aged voice says.

"Greetings, Father." Gumball takes out three dollars and counts his coins.

"What have ye come for?" Richard opens the toy chest, displaying "weapons" in an orderly fashion.

"I'll take the Discombobulation Dust," Gumball says in a husky voice. He takes the small bag and hands his dad two quarters.

"What else, Warrior?"

"A mythril katana," the blue cat takes the foam sword and gives Richard a full dollar.

"May I suggest refreshments?" Richard holds up a chocolate-chip cookie, shining in the moonlight.

"You know me well," Gumball smiles, giving his father five nickels.

"Anything else?"

"Hmm..." Gumball scans the selection.

"Ooh. The Gem of Love?" Richard peeks over the lid.

"Oh yeah. That's $5,750." Gumball tosses back the engagement ring.

"Did you really just buy a diamond ring for effect?"

"Crafty, huh?"

Gumball clears his throat. "I would like to purchase... the Time Harnesser and rope." Gumball gives his father the rest of his money and takes the camera and a roll of Christmas lights.

"Thank you for your transaction sir," Richard says quietly. Gumball puts everything in a pillowcase and stuffs it in his costume. "I look forward to conducting business with you in the future."

"I am ready."

* * *

Gumball sneaks out the really late. It's about 11:00, when everyone's sleeping.

He jogs to Penny's house, knocking over some garbage cans along the way. Finally, he reaches the Fitzgerald household. From previous visits, Gumball mapped out one third of the house. The house is slightly bigger than theirs, but this won't intimidate Gumball. Obviously, the front door was locked, so Gumball had to go through the back, hoping that that wasn't locked too.

He slid open the door with ease. Gumball entered the dark house. Gumball remembers this part of the house when he went over to Penny's pool party a few summers ago. Gumball also remembers where Penny's room is. He snuck past a few chairs and got to the staircase.

He took a step up, but it squeaked loudly. Gumball stops, waiting for someone to randomly appear. He takes out his "inventory" and arms his katana. He takes another step. This one sounded even louder than before. He heard some shuffling upstairs. Hopefully, that wasn't anyone. Much to Gumball's dismay, it is.

Gumball begins to panic. What's he gonna do? He finds a coffee table and ducks underneath it. Someone walks downstairs. Penny's father! Gumball gulps. He watches his slippers go to the kitchen. He shouldn't be able to see anyone now, right? Gumball sees the kitchen lights turn on.

Now's his chance. Gumball speeds up past the stairs, making a quick but loud creaking noises. He can hear the shuffling stop. "Anyone there?" He whispers loudly.

Gumball spots Penny's door. 'I can do this' he thinks to himself. Fortunately, the floorboards aren't as squeaky. Gumball slides to Penny's door. Very carefully, he opens it. But then he hears Mr. Fitzgerald come up the stairs.

With the door slightly ajar, there's no way Gumball can close the door without making a noise. He does so anyways, making a quiet but audible closing noise. Gumball hears him walk past the door. Now is the moment he's been waiting for. Gumball began taking pictures of the whole room. The posters, the wall, even the window, which had no significance whatsoever.

He was about to go when he saw Penny. Gumball's jaw drops. 'She's even hotter when she's asleep.' He thinks. He raises up the camera when it makes two very loud beeps. "LOW BATTERY", the screen reads. Penny begins to wake up, and he can see the lights under the door light up. Gumball can even hear the shuffling of feet near the door.

What's he gonna do?

* * *

**That was probably the most dramatic thing I've written. Ever. ****Let's see what happens to Gumball in the next chapter!**

**Thanks anyways!**

**-DWalkthroughGuy**


	4. The Ninja

Gumball is panicking. He immediately shuts of the camera and stuff it back in his "inventory". Where's he gonna go now? He readies his mythril katana and arms his Discombobulation Dust. Gumball decides to hide under Penny's bed. Mr. Fitzgerald opens the door just in time. Gumball prayed that no one find him or give away his location.

Gumball can hear Penny wake up. "Penny? I heard a loud beeping sound, so I came over to see what was wrong. Everything alright?" Penny's father asks in concern.

"I'm not sure what it was, but I think I'll be fine," she replies.

"Just checking," her father said. Penny's younger sister began crying. "Someone's unhappy. Goodnight Penny," Mr. Fitzgerald left the room and shut the door behind him. Gumball can't believe his luck. 'They didn't notice me at all! Now all I need to do is go get back outside.' Gumball thinks. He hears Penny roll over on the bed. 'I'm sure she won't notice.' Gumball infers. He slides out of the bottom. He kicks in a chair in the process, making a loud screeching noise.

Penny gets up and looks over to see a silhouette kick her chair. She screams. Gumball, hoping she won't recognize him, jumps out of the room. I guess his ninja costume will do something useful. Hearing his daughter, Mrs. and Mr. Fitzgerald go to her room. Gumball hides in the bathroom and locks it. "The window!" he whispers. He tries to open it, but it's locked. Even the lock is jammed. Realizing they might find him, Gumball immediately shuts off the lights.

He can hear the peanut parents check on Penny, so Gumball makes a run for it. Quietly opening the door, he rushes down the stairs. He misses a step and loses balance. Tumbling down the stairs, Gumball picks up his katana and finds his Discombobulation Dust bag, making a commotion in the process. "Hey punk!" a voice bellows from upstairs.

'Oh no' Gumball says in his mind. He ties the rope at the bottom of a staircase. 'They shouldn't be able to see me' Gumball finishes tying the rope. 'Eat this' he thinks. He spots Mr. Fitzgerald with a baseball bat rushing down the stairs after Gumball. Penny's sister blindly waddles towards him.

'Sorry little guy' He strikes the peanut toddler with his mythril katana, which was a really light hit. She was unaffected and didn't feel any pain, but she cried anyways. "Hey kid! Who are you?! Stop!" Gumball arms his Discombobulation Dust and tosses all of it he could at Mr. Fitzgerald. "Flour! It's in my eyes!" he topples over the coffee table and falls over. Gumball tries to stall Mrs. Fitzgerald and Penny who were coming down the stairs with the cookie as a last resort, but he instead threw the camera. He also missed. 'NO!' Gumball yells in his mind.

Penny jumps down the last few steps of the staircase as a habit. But Mrs. Fitzgerald was not so lucky. She too was a victim of the Christmas lights. The peanut mother fell flat on her face. "Mom!" Penny looks at Gumball angrily. "Stay away from my family!" 'She's the last peanut standing'. Gumball eyes the camera in the corner. Penny takes her pom-poms and crosses her arms.

Gumball furrows his eyebrows and tightens the grip of his katana. 'I'm sorry Penny' He jumps in the air to strike her, but she blocks it with her pom-poms. Gumball falls over next to the Discombobulation Dust. Pinching whatever was left, he throws it at Penny. "My eyes!" she staggers backwards, but doesn't fall. Gumball seizes the moment of distraction and gets up.

"Oh no you don't!" Penny hurls a pom-pom at Gumball's face. "Ya!" she hits him hard with her other pom-pom, dizzying Gumball and tripping over Mr. Fitzgerald. She goes for another strike, but Gumball blocks it with his katana. He gets up quickly. "I don't know what you want, but I do know what I want." She readies her pom-pom. "I want you to get out of my house!" she warms up the fuzzy pillow like a softball pitch and gets ready to throw it at Gumball, who dives at the right moment.

The pom-pom hits a picture shelf. Some of them fall down, some frames shattering on contact of the hard, wooden floor. Penny grunts. She takes the pom-pom she threw at Gumball and readies it for hand-to-hand combat. Her disoriented sister begins to rise. Penny makes the first move. She strikes Gumball, but he blocks it. They back into the kitchen, thrusting and blocking pom-poms and foam swords.

Gumball corners himself at a locked door. Penny's sister cries out, "I'm scared!" and begins wailing. Penny turns around. Gumball smirks. 'Thanks' He dashes past Penny. Without anyone getting in his way, there should be nothing stopping him.

"Don't hurt my sister!" Penny shrieks. 'False accusation' Gumball says. 'Thanks a lot One Correction' He leaps past the coffee table and over Penny's passed out dad. Penny's sister walks to Gumball and begins hitting him with her fists weakly.

"Just leave us alone!" she says between sobs. Gumball blocks a few with his broadsword before diving for the camera. Standing, he runs for the Time Harnesser. An apple lands near him. Looking behind him, he sees apples and different fruits hurled towards his general direction. Penny was pitching fruits at him! Gumball finally bends down and gets a hold of the camera and cookie. 'Yes!'

He gets ready to leave when Penny's sister kicks him hard on the shin. Gumball winces, trying hard to not show his voice. He hops backwards, holding the affected area. With his face bent over from pain, Penny's sister takes the opportunity and socks him right on the nose. "Ow!" Gumball says under his arm, still trying to muffle his voice.

"Great job sis!" Penny encourages. Gumball ignores the throbbing shin and aching noise and makes a run for the exit. "Oh not so fast!" Penny tackles Gumball to the floor. Crawling out of her grip, Gumball runs for the exit.

Exiting the back sliding door, he hops the fence and runs back home, munching the hard-earned refreshment.

* * *

**Intense, eh? Let's find out what the others think of the time harnessing and how the Fitzgeralds will react to the attack!**

**Thanks anyways!**

**-DWalkthroughGuy**


	5. The Intel

Gumball opens the front door slowly. Checking to see if any lights were on, he slips inside and closes the door behind him. He leaps up the stairs as quietly as he could, entering the bedroom only to change and go to bed immediately. 'I'll show then tomorrow' Gumball notes. He falls asleep thinking of what might be happening at the Fitzgerald household.

The next morning, Gumball perks up, reaching under his bed to grab his Time Harnesser. Darwin stands in his bowl. "Mornin' dude!" He said, pandiculating.

"Hey Darwin!" Gumball said enthusiastically. He reviews all of his photos from last night. "Check it out! I snuck into Penny's house last night and got important intel!" Darwin leans over and takes a look at some of them, which are mostly pointless pictures of furniture such as a lamp or a wardrobe which had no importance.

"Bro, that's lame. How about when you risk your dignity, take IMPORTANT pictures next time?" Darwin sarcastically suggests.

"Thanks for the feedback, buddy!" Gumball replies. Darwin hops out of his bowl and shakes off the water. He puts on his slippers and walks downstairs. Gumball stays behind and sits down on his bed to check over his photos.

"You really snuck into her house last night?" Anais says peeking over the top side of the bed. Gumball, startled, looks up.

"Oh hey sis. Yeah, I actually did. Check out my pics!" Gumball holds the Time Harnesser up. Anais squints, looking at the mediocre furniture photos.

"Wait, you snuck into someone's house to take these?" Anais asks. "You have to be kidding me." Gumball shakes his head. Anais climbs down and follows Darwin.

"Nope!" He takes his notebook and pencil and walks downstairs. Gumball jots down notes that include anything about the photos. He also tries to reconstruct Penny's room the best he could. His brother fish and his sister bunny lean over to view his notebook.

"I heard that the Fitzgeralds got broken into last night," Nicole says, putting a mug of coffee but the microwave. She sets the time and lets the machine run. Gumball gulps.

'Please don't tell her!' Gumball screams in his mind. Darwin and Anais look at each other.

"What did he look like?" Darwin asks, trying to be innocent.

Nicole looked at her kid surprised that he cared. "Well, he looked liked about the age of Gumball. It was wearing all black, but the dark also contributed to it." Gumball grows more nervous and quickly puts a mouthful of Daisy Flakes in his mouth to hide it.

"They even said he was fighting back!" She giggles quietly to herself. "Flour, Christmas lights, foam swords," Nicole can't help but laugh. "It sounds like something from a cartoon!"

Anais picks up the camera and checks the photos. "Hey Gumball," she said, laying down the camera. Gumball looks up from his "notes".

"Hm?"

"You did forget one very important piece of information..." Anais says mysteriously. Darwin raises an eyebrow in confusion. "Her diary," she whispers. Gumball gasps.

"What?! Oh my gosh!" She nods. "I forgot! Thanks sis!" Gumball hurries his cereal and runs upstairs. Anais looks at her brother in concern.

"No! Gumball, I was only joki- ugh," Anais grunts as she takes a mouthful of cereal. Darwin looks worried too.

"Sis, I think he's taking all of this seriously," Darwin says.

"Ya think? We have to stop him before this goes any farther," Anais plans. Darwin nods in agreement.

"But..."

"But what?"

"I just don't want Gumball to feel bad. How about we do it indirectly?" Darwin suggests. He really wants to prevent Gumball from making this worse, but he loves him, and he doesn't want to hurt his feelings.

"What are you talking about? We have to take serious action! All emotions aside!" Anais says firmly. Darwin bites his fin. She sighs. "Look Darwin, I know you're just trying to be a good brother, and I get that. It's just that-" she stops when she sees Darwin nearly in tears. "How about I do this alone?"

"No sis. I'm joining you."

"Okay. Now what's our plan?"

"Remember what I said yesterday: We have to cancel out his move, which in this case was the heist, but we couldn't've stopped him. Let's just wait out his next move," Anais suggests. She gets off her highchair, empty bowl and glass in hand. Darwin nods, and jumps down with his empty breakfast.

* * *

"Hey, Penny," Gumball said walking up to his crush. He takes out the same steno pad and golf pencil as he did last time and puts on a fedora. "Do you have a diary?" Penny looks at Gumball, unsure of why he asks this.

"Umm...yes, I do..."

"Thanks!" Gumball begins to walk away when Penny stops him.

"Gumball..." Gumball frezes in his tracks, thinking of a million possibilities on what this could be about.

"Yeah?" He turns his head, but not his body.

"I was wondering if you knew anything about what happened in my house last night," she says. What should Gumball do? Should he pretend that he knows all about it like everyone else? Or should he act as if he knows nothing of that matter? The first might raise a red flag, showing that Gumball knows more than what everyone else does.

He decides to choose the latter. "No... What did happen last night?" Gumball asks innocently.

"Well, my house got broken into," she admits. Gumball reacts mildly: not too strong, not too light.

"What?! Seriously?" He pretends. Penny nods.

"It looked more like a kid than an a man. My sister said that he went through the back door. We probably left it unlocked, like we do sometimes. My parents live in the time where you knew everyone and could leave doors unlocked (The Job)..." she explains. Gumball nods emphatically.

"I was just wondering," she says again. Gumball nods again, not really knowing what for. "Do you know what I'm talking about?" Gumball breaks out of his bobblehead state.

"Yeah. It's okay Penny, we're here for you," she smiles. She thanks him in her mind for making an effort to be empathetic. It felt real, but she knew it wasn't complete.

Gumball walks to his brother and sister who were talking about their classes. "Hey Darwin! Hey Anais!" Gumball puts away his steno pad and puts his pencil on his ear.

"Hey Gumball! Whoa. What's with the cool hat?" Darwin asks, admiring Gumball's new style.

"It's not a hat, Darwin. It's a fedora! A fancy hat!" Gumball replies, twisting the brim of the fedora.

"Ooh. Fancy!" Darwin's eyes sparkle.

"And! I have to go over to her house again to get her diary," he whispers to himself. Anais and Darwin facepalms.

"You should not go there in a long time. Your stealth tactic was nearly thwarted," Anais explains.

"Don't worry, I got a different approach," Gumball says. "This should work."

* * *

**I know most of my stories are slow and not so exciting, but I've been working on a crossover lately. It involves The Amazing World of Gumball, Teen Titans Go!, and Adventure Time.**

**May take a few weeks, though.**

**Thanks anyways!**

**-DWalkthroughGuy**


	6. The Diary

Gumball calmly glances at Penny, who was sitting beside him. She was writing in some sort of book. Miss Simian drones about things that they've already learned in fourth grade, so everyone mostly ignored her.

"Hey Penny," Gumball whispers. Slightly startled from the random whisper, she looks up from her writing.

"Yeah?"

"What are you writing there?" Gumball asks.

"My diary, why?"

"Just wondering. You've been on that for hours," Gumball lies, despite not knowing she's only been writing on it for 15 minutes. Penny turns back to her work.

"Gumball?" Miss Simian asks, Gumball not hearing the question. "The answer is?" Gumball looks around nervously.

"I'm sorry, I couldn't hear you," he lies. Miss Simian repeats,

"What is this the formula for finding the area of a triangle?" She repeats.

"Base times height divided by two," he says, looking at Miss Simian worrying she'll find out.

"Good. Now, let's continue..." she continues her lesson on finding areas.

* * *

'Now that I know that that's her diary, I need someone to get it for me.' His ears light up when he sees Jamie, talking to Tina. "Perfect," he whispers out loud. He takes a few steps towards the two girls, talking about some techniques on how to beat someone up.

"Yeah, I usually hang them feet-up and beat them like a punching bag," Tina laughs at her own strategy.

"Well, I prefer to keep them at a locker and beat them like that. It keeps them confined and contained," Tina nods in agreement.

"Hey girls," Gumball walks up to them. They look up at Gumball.

"What do you want?" Jamie spits. Tina growls at Gumball.

"I just need you to do me favor," Gumball replies calmly. He takes out ten dollars. "I need you to take Penny's diary. For one person, she gets all the cash. For two people, you split it 50-50." They look at the green note and shake their heads.

"We ain't taking that weak offer," Tina growls. "Raise it up." Gumball fishes in his pockets and pulls out another ten dollars. Jamie and Tina discuss their plan.

"Just a bit more," Jamie pleads. Gumball sighs and takes out his final dollars. He counts up to notes and adds the value.

"About thirty five dollars," Gumball announces. The bullies exchange glances.

"How much if we split it?" Tina asks. Gumball thinks for a moment.

"Fourteen dollars and fifty cents," Gumball says.

"A little more?" Tina begs with a rising inflection.

Gumball rolls his eyes. "Alright, but this is the final raise," Gumball says.

The two girls nod. "That's fair." Gumball pulls out his lunch money and counts up an extra five dollars.

"Twenty dollars when split. Forty dollars," Gumball says. The two pant like a dog.

"Give us the dough!" they say simultaneously. Gumball puts the money behind his back and shakes his head, with his eyes closed.

"After you give me Penny's diary," Gumball insists. The two frown.

"Alright, fine," Jamie retorts. "Come on Tina, let's get it. Twenty dollars is pretty worth it." They walk away from Gumball, both in search for Penny. Gumball smirks and chuckles. He finds Darwin, who was biting on his sandwich.

* * *

"Where were you dude?" he says, looking up from his lunch. Gumball takes a seat next to his brother.

"I paid Jamie and Tina to take Penny's diary," he declares proudly. "I'll have it in no time!" He gasps. "I forgot one detail!" he runs after the bullies, who were approaching Penny.

"Guys! Wait!" he yells after them. Gumball dodges past Masami and Carmen, lightly bumping Carmen, poking his left shoulder. He winces, plucking several needles and rubbing his arm. "Jamie! Tina!" They don't stop. He stops a good twenty feet from the scene. Much to Gumball's surprise, they were still in earshot.

"Hey, Penny!" Tina roars. She looks up.

"What do you want?" she replies bravely. Jamie stomps one foot out at her. The whole playground stops whatever they were doing and looks at the scene. 'Aww, great...' Gumball thinks.

"Gumball said he wants your diary, and he's paying us twenty bucks each. Pay up or we're beating you!" Banana Joe and Terri gasp. The others all face Gumball, flabbergasted.

"What?! Gumball would never do that! Don't lie to me!" Penny stands up, pointing at Gumball. "He wouldn't!" Tina raises an eyebrow.

"You sure?" she says. Tina turns around and looks at Gumball. "Hey you said that right?" Gumball squeaks. If he lies, he'll get beaten, but if he says yes, he risks his reputation AND his relationship with Penny. Time for him froze. He's fiercely indecisive at the moment. Which pain will he go for? Physical or social? He decides to go with the most logical.

"No! What? No, no, no!" the two walk towards him. Tina holds him up with her arm, and begins socking him with her other claw. Gumball cries.

* * *

"Stop that!" Penny shouts, running to him. Tina flicks her with her tail, blasting her sideways. Jamie and Tine have a good laugh at the swift move.

'Better than the other option' Gumball thinks, smiling while crying at the immense pain. Tina drops him on the hard cement. "What's your technique?"

Jamie cracks her knuckles and her neck. "Alrighty," she says. "Prepare, to be amazed." She picks up Gumball by her tail. Everyone gasps.

"Ouch- that's really painful!" he winces quietly. Jamie walks towards the school.

"Follow me," she tells Tina. Tina follows her eagerly. Gumball tries to keep himself up by holding his arms out and "walking" with them like legs. Tears of pain roll down his cheeks. 'This better be worth it...' he thinks.

Jamie opens an empty locker and stuffs Gumball in it. She kicks and punches Gumball a few times. The two are obviously enjoying this. His arms and legs were getting kicked further and further into the inside of the locker. The pain on his joints became unbearable. Jamie pulls him out via pinching his cheek. Gumball screams in pain, gripping his knees.

"Agh! My knees! They feel like they're broken!" tears drip to the floor. The two bullies laugh as they see him on the ground, Gumball crying in obvious pain.

"Liar!" Jamie shoots. She spits on him. Gumball feels a book land on his side. He forces his eyes open and see it was Penny's diary. He smiles, even though tears flooded his face.

"Thanks," he says feebly. He hands Jamie the forty dollars, who began counting the notes to split to Tina. Gumball slowly stands up. He falls the first time, his legs and back killing him with pain. "A bit more slowly this time..." he struggles, but he goes on all fours, eventually leaving his feet up on their own. He was a bit giddy at first, but he regained his balance and steadied himself.

Gumball vomits on the floor. "Well worth it," he says with a smile, clutching the diary tightly in his arms. He staggers over to his locker before any of the others see him. He shuts his locker just in time when Darwin and Penny run up to him. They see his bruises, cuts and welts all over his body, jaws dropping in shock.

* * *

**I know I haven't done anything in a while in regards to ANY of my fanfics, but that's because I had a major wave of writer's block, not to mention that I'm working on other projects, including my first crossover, new stories and everyday life with it's challenges. Thanks for sticking with me for the past few weeks. You guys rock!**

**Thanks anyways!**

**-DWalkthroughGuy**


	7. The Vent

Darwin and Penny couldn't believe what they were seeing. They almost recoiled in shock. "What happened to YOU dude?" Darwin shrieks.

"Gumball! Are you alright?" She asks. Gumball smirks.

"I'm fine. Except for my back, my arm, my stomach, my head, my other arm, my knees, my lungs and my groin area. Now if you'll excuse me I'll be in the bathroom." He speedwalks to the bathroom, diary in his hand. Penny and Darwin shrug and continue.

Gumball vomits wildly. Or at least he tries to sound like it. He sits down to read his prize when he finally realizes no one was even inside the bathroom. Then he finds it's locked.

Even after Jamie and Tina were kicking it around and throwing it across the walls, it was still somehow locked up. Gumball doesn't have a pin or a needle anywhere. He can't go out. What if they're there? And what if someone takes his spot?

Gumball decides to check the bathroom, but three, five people occupy the bathroom immediately just before the search. Two boys even wait outside the stall for an empty slot. "Oh man," Gumball remarks. He squats down to check the floor of the different stalls. Right there, he sees it.

A paper clip.

* * *

'How am I going to get there?' Gumball thinks. He looks around for some sort of excuse. He hides the diary under his sweater and leaves the stall and hastily rushes outside. 'I know exactly what to do,' he thinks to himself, walking to the fire alarm. People walk all around them casually, not suspecting anything.

"Hey Gumball," Penny says calmly. He waves back nervously. 'Oh great'. She walks to him, holding her books in one hand.

"Hey Penny!" he replies, sweating like crazy. She smiles. Gumball needs an excuse. Fast. "Penny! Behind you!" Penny whirls around, and just as suddenly as she looked, the fire alarm was set off by none other than Gumball, who ran to the boy's bathroom immediately.

Every boy in the boy's bathroom ran out, flailing and screaming for the exit. Gumball seizes his chance and runs inside, getting on his hands and knees in search of the stall of the stall with the paper clip. He finds it, only to see someone inside.

"What?" he whispers out loud, sprinklers raining down on him. It was someone familiar, but he couldn't place it. "Agh!" infuriated, he kicks down the door to see Tobias, fast asleep. Seeing this, Gumball gasps. He isn't caught, is he?

He bends down gently and very slowly to get to his target. His hand in mere inches, he sees Tobias snap awake. "Hey!" Gumball freezes, still looking in the same direction. Tobias kicks him in the face, pushing him out of the stall. "I'm using the bathroom, here!" he gets up and gets ready to beat Gumball.

"Get ready to go down," he says. Gumball simply shoves him out of the way, grabs the paper clip and hears a metal sound, like a keychain. Clicks can be heard from the inside. Gumball panics. The principal! He always checks in if everyone in the school is evacuated, including every room.

Gumball, without thinking, busts open the vent lid, crawls inside and slides it back in place. He hears the door immediately open. "Is there anyone here?" Principal Brown asks worriedly. Gumball peeks through the small slits on the vent.

"I did, but then he's gone and I can't find him anywhere," he replies.

"Well, we have to get you outside right now!" he exclaims. He urges Tobias to follow and slams the door shut. Now Gumball is truly by himself.

* * *

He now has the diary and the paper clip in his hand. Now for the moment he's been waiting for. Grinning from ear to ear, which were soaking wet, he straightens the paper clip and picks the diary lock. After a few minutes of impatient attempts, Gumball hears the _click _of the lock.

"Yes!" he says to himself, slowly opening the cover of the diary. In it were the days of Penny since she first joined this school, written in great detail. Gumball read through some of them, skipping ahead of most sections to get to the important part: One Correction. He takes a deep breath and strains as he looks at the pages in the dark.

* * *

**ONE CORRECTION CONCERT!**

Dear Journal,

At school today, I was talking to my girlfriends, Terri and Carmen, when they were talking about something I've never really liked before: a boy band. The last time I've heard of one was about Justin Brieber's Swiss anarchy when he dominated all of Switzerland and took over bits of neighboring countries. I remember very clearly how the TV showed images of destruction, countries trying to contain the fangirls, the fallen Swiss government and war. Those were the days.

Anyways, they were talking about One Correction, an extremely popular boy band that I've never heard of before, so I did some "research". I searched them on the Internet, and saw that they were pretty cute. Carmen and Terri also told me that they're pretty good at music as well, so I looked up their music online as well, and it's BEAUTIFUL! Their voices are gorgeous and I certainly love their lyrics and messages.

Well, I'll be back soon!

Penny Fitzgerald

* * *

Gumball gasps and overreaction tears fall from his eyes. "He's coming up fast! He'll take over in a week!" he exclaims in the empty vent. He flips to the next entry.

* * *

**BACK FROM THE ONE CORRECTION CONCERT!**

Dear Journal,

I finally went to the One Correction concert I've been bugging you about, but it was definitely worth it! Every $300.00 of it! They're even hotter in person, and they're song was even better than neither of the 3 50-song playlists I listened to all last night. I think I'm in love with these guys...

Anyways, I plan to catch them next time when they're nearby, and I regain another three hundred bucks from my allowance. I'm also following them in every single social media they're on. They update the most on Elmore+, which is where they post the most things, and I'm always checking on them every five minutes in case something comes up.

Obviously Obcessed,  
Penny Fitzgerald

* * *

Gumball gasps even louder than before. Unbelievable! She was obcessed with them! They even "loved" them! Gumball, jealous of the fame, vowed to get back at them. He furiously stuffs the diary and pin within his sweater and snakes around the vents, trying to find an escape. They even "loved" them! Gumball, jealous of the fame, vowed to get back at them.

* * *

**Well then, that's the thing we've been waiting for: the Intel! Stick around for some more info about what Gumball plans to use with his newly found intelligence.**

**My new crossover is also out. Although not so well developed story-wise, I'm still working on it, so expect some slowdowns on other stories while I work on it.**

**Thanks anyways!**

**-DWalkthroughGuy**


	8. The Second

The vent was dark and damp, yet clean on the inside apart from the clouds of dust bunnies that occured. Although his sense of sight was quite limited, Gumball tried to listen his way out, and he isn't too successful at the moment. With the diary tight on his chest, he thinks of what he might do once he's out of the treacherous school ventilation system.

"I can't believe her!" Gumball says out loud, letting out his frustration. "She really goes with those losers?!" After five minutes of crawling, he finally sees an exit. "Yes!" He whispers.

He kicks down the vent and falls out, landing ten feet down. "Ow!" Gumball was dazed from the fall, but Jealousy got the best of him. His fur turns green. His pupils become slits. His voice turns malicious. Darwin is the first to spot him.

"Gumball!" He exclaims in relief. Gumball ignores it and storms to Penny. But he stops.

If he grills Penny about it, not only will she be hurt, but she'll realize he's been stalking her and rummaged into her diary. His jealousy subsides and the spirit leaves him. "Where were you this whole time?" Darwin asks. "Come on, let's talk about it at lunch."

The diary still in his sweater, he sees Penny floating towards him. Nervous, he stuffs the book deeper. Gumball tries hiding it by placing his tray and arms in front of it. "Gumball!" She says with the same relief as Dawin's. "I was worried would never see you again! Oh thank goodness you're okay!"

Gumball smiles sheepishly. "Yeah-yeah. Me too! He he," he tries to make small talk to change the subject.

"Where were you anyways?" she asks innocently, holding her lunch tray. Gumball looks around, trying to find an excuse.

"Um, I just, uh, you know... I-I took a while-to... to save the school hamster!" he says and grins. Penny raises an eyebrow and shrugs.

"As long as you're okay," she remarks, gives him a kiss on the forehead and floats to her friends. Gumball exhales in relief and runs down to an empty table, where Darwin meets with him.

* * *

"Hey Gumball, what's that box in your sweater?" he asks curiously. "It looks like a book." Gumball winces. What's he going to do?

"Just nothing buddy. Just focus on the delicious meal," he takes a bite of a bland, brown cube.

"No really Gumball. You've been acting very secretive lately. Just show me what you're hiding. I'll never tell. I promise," Darwin smiles. Gumball looks at the table in thought. He wants to be honest with Darwin, but he doesn't want to give away his plans.

"I've just been busy with some stuff Darwin," he says. It isn't a lie, but it isn't telling the whole truth. A misleading fact, as Gumball puts it.

"What stuff?" Darwin questions innocently. Gumball claws for something clever to say.

"Uh-umm.. homework," Gumball replies, beads of sweat shining on his forehead.

"Gumball, it's Conference Week. There isn't any homework," Darwin corrects.

"Oh," Gumball brainstorms for another excuse. "Well, I have some missing homework, he-he."

"If you did have any, Mrs. Mom would've grilled you about it by now and you would be scared to death, rendering you speechless for 24 hours," Darwin corrects again.

"Okay, well I have saxophone lessons," Gumball tries one more time, hands on his hips and eyes closed.

"Do you know what a saxophone is?" Darwin asks, raising an eyebrow.

"No," Gumball admits, looking down in shame.

"You're thinking of lies and excuses, aren't you?" Gumball nods, still looking at the ground. "What are you really thinking about?" Gumball sighs and puts his hands on his chin.

"It's One Correction, man. They've got the best of me. They're making me go insane over Penny," Gumball finally admits. Darwin lightens up and smiles.

"At least you're being honest. You obviously don't have the power to 'overthrow' them, if you could do that," Darwin explains to Gumball. Gumball looks up. "What I suggest is try to OVERRIDE them. You can't knock them down, but you can build yourself up." Gumball looks up and agrees.

"You're right! It's time I get those guts again!" Darwin raises his hand and says,

"That's the spirit! Let's work on it after school!"

* * *

After school, everyone was hanging around the front school steps, talking and exchanging news and gossip. Darwin sports the same attire he did earlier: coach's cap, whistle necklace, pencil and clipboard. "Are you ready Gumball?" he says, trying to pump Gumball up.

"Yeah...sure," he squeaks timidly. Darwin tries using a different approach this time.

"Look buddy, don't be so nervous. Consider yourself in a standoff," Gumball stops shaking and looks at Darwin. "If you want to win, you have to make the first move. If not, she'll neither end up giving up on you or making the first move, which would be weird, I guess."

"B-But I already asked her out on a date," Gumball remembers the last few weekends when Gumball and Penny went out to the mall.

"Then why can't you do it again?" Darwin asks. "If you've shot her once, she's weakened. Shoot her again!" Gumball drops his smile.

"That's a bad analogy," he says, and happily trots to Penny, who was reading from a book. Her friends were crowding around her, trying to share information for their history homework. "H-hey... P-Penny," Gumball manages to sputter. Penny and her friends look up.

"Hey Gumball!" Penny says in her soft tone. Terri and Carmen wave back and look back down at their books.

"So... so I was wondering- if- if you wanted to go out... again to the m-mall this weekend?" Gumball uses up all of his courage. His bashfulness turns his face a soft red. Terri and Carmen giggle quietly to each other.

"He-he. Sorry Gumball, but we're going to fly over to Las Vegas for another concert, but it's not just because for the concert. My whole family kind of needs to get away from everything and blah blah blah blah, blah blah..." Gumball goes deaf. His rage and shock block out all input from the world, just looking at Penny in anger.

"...and that's why I can't go with you to the mall. Sorry. Is that okay?" Gumball's eyes get watery. His anger converts to feelings of rejection and sadness.

"Yeah that's *sniff* fine," he replies, and walks to Darwin as nonchalantly as possible. He bursts into a breakdown at his feet.

"So? How'd it go?" Darwin asks, oblivious to Gumball'd emotional state.

"Dude! She rejected me again!" he says on his knees.

"Oh. Sorry man," Darwin replies, rubbing the back of his neck. "What for this time?"

"Another concert in Las Vegas," Gumball replies, his face in the concrete.

"Sorry again, I wasn't aware," Darwin grins in sympathy.

"I'll get her back," Gumball says dramatically, eyes closed.

* * *

**...aaand DONE! Finally! A long overdue update of The Band! If you haven't seen the rest of my stories, you probably don't know I've been on a hiatus. Blame it on writer's block and procrastination! I should have everything under control now. Expect more fanfics now!**

**Thanks anyways!  
-DWalkthroughGuy**


	9. The Dart

Gumball sat on the car seat, palm on his chin angrily looking out the window. Richard sees his expression. "Hey Gumball! How was school?" Gumball frowns.

"I don't want to talk about it," Gumball replies.

"What is it Darwin?" Richard whispers to Darwin.

"He got rejected by Penny. Again," Darwin whispers back. Richard tries his best to hold in a laugh.

"You okay son?" he says, leaking a snicker. Gumball groans.

"I'm fine, Dad," Gumball replies a bit softly, regretful of his hostility. They pull up next to the street and get out to go to the house. Gumball quickly runs to his room and falls flat on the pillow, sobbing loudly. Anais and Darwin come in the room, obviously concerned about Gumball.

"You okay Gumball?" Anais asks. "You seem... sad." Gumball gets up from his position and looks at Anais with red and wet eyes.

"Anais, I can take care of this on my own," he replies. Darwin crosses his arms.

"This is going to be a problem," he says.

"No duh! Let's just leave him alone and watch mindless television. There's no homework anyways," the two leave Gumball alone and walk downstairs. Gumball sits up and sniffs. What can he do? He has to go with them. That's the only way to get her back, at least that's what he thinks.

* * *

"That's it!" he proclaims to himself. "I have to get on the plane with Penny!" He begins packing. What should he bring anyways? He gets some extra clothes, an automatic necessity for the trip, into an old school backpack. He stuffs some clothes into it an thinks of more things. "Hygiene products!" he goes to the bathroom and grabs his toothbrush and the toothpaste. Gumball thought about taking soap and shampoo, but he decides a hotel would usually would suffice.

"Speaking of which, I need money," Gumball says to himself, walking out of the bathroom. He rummages through his wallet and grabs $50. "But wait! I need a ticket!" Gumball thinks of a clever way to pass this problem. He works out a solution and snags a fedora and fake mustache from the closet and tries on the outfit. It looked distinct, but only at the head. He spots a trench coat and tries it on with the rest of the components. Now he looked distinct.

He would have to disguise as someone after tranquilizing them and disposing their location and identity. Gumball smirks at his own strategy. He practices his deep, adult-like voice by trying some "adult" things. "Hey John! How's Jane doing?" "Did you see the Ducks game last night?" "Hey Steve! How's your promotion going?" Gumball coughs from the sudden voice change.

Now he needs the tranquilizer dart. One time when the Watterson's were getting robbed, Gumball remembers his mom take a blow dart and shot it at the intruder. He fell to the ground a few seconds prior to the dart hitting his shoulder. Left Thumb Sal was arrested and woke up in the prison.

When his dad saw the robber, he informed Mom immediately, and she went to the bedroom, fished for the blow dart gun and the dart, so the dart had to be from in the bedroom, and she probably got a new one, as the robbery was pretty recent. Besides, Gumball's dad was so paranoid of it, Gumball, Darwin and Anais could hear him beg to get a new dart two hours after the incident, and they could barely sleep until dawn.

* * *

Now Gumball has to get it. It's his chance to take it now. Gumball gets out of his disguise and sneaks through the floor like a snake, without using his arms or legs. Reaching his parent's bedroom door, he checks for the coast to clear. Making sure there is no one there, he opens the door very slowly and slips through the small crack he made and closes the door behind him, where he sees his father taking a nap.

Gumball gasps. What'll he do? Trying to locate some sort of suitcase or small bag containing a dart. Being as careful as possible, he snakes through the ground and checks under the bed. Nothing there. He proceeds to check the closet. Still nothing. Now for the final place, under the drawers. Gumball bends down and spots a suitcase, one like the found during the mystery about their financial status (The Treasure). Maybe it was the exact same one.

Gumball looks around one more time and unlocks the switches. He slowly opens the lid, expecting some sort of alarm. And there it was, the tranquilizer dart.

It had a thick area right after the needle part that probably contained the chemicals. The needle shrunk from the body to the end. The dart also had red feathers at the end. All of it was about three inches long. Gumball didn't need some sort of blow dart gun. He just needed to stick the needle into someone, and they'll go down quickly. There, he'll snatch the ticket and proceed to his free seat.

All he had to do now is get out of here. Gumball looked around as he saw his dad just getting up. Wincing, he got under the bed. He heard the bed squeaking as his dad yawned loudly. "Good nap," he says to himself. He puts his bare feet down on Gumball's face. "Ooh! Did i get new slippers?" Gumball slides out of his dad's feet and replaces it with the bunny slippers he usually wears.

Completely under the bed, Gumball thought he was safe. Now he sees his mom come in. "Richard! The new mattress is here!" she exclaims proudly.

"Really?!" Dad's tone of voice lightens up. Gumball winces again. Now what? Then the old mattress will be lifted and he'll be revealed!

* * *

Gumball needs a strategy, and fast. He might blow this whole thing over if he doesn't do something.

* * *

**There you go! Another chapter of The Band here! Thanks for sticking with me this whole time, and thanks for the support, especially because I'm new. More chapters underway.**

**Thanks anyways!  
-DWalkthroughGuy**


	10. The Scooter

Gumball needs to improvise his own Rube Goldberg, something effective he found quite useful in stressful situations like this one. The only thing he has right now is the dart, apart from his clothes, of course. Mapping out his strategy, he throws the dart at a lamp base. The lamp tips over and knocks down a wall frame. The painting's glass shatters and startled Nicole, who accidentally bumped the fan. The fan proceeded to blow at maximum power and blew down the portable heater. Gumball watched all of this under the bed.

Next, the heater was falls over and the metal hit the power outlet, which overpowered the heater and caused it to set the mattress on fire. His parents fled the fiery scene. "Yes!" Gumball says to himself. He plucks the dart out of the standing lamp base and crawls out of the room, flailing his arms and running out as well. He sees his mom come in with a bucket of water and throws it at the fire, the black smoke making them cough.

Gumball rushes to the bedroom and closes it. "Genius," he says to himself, putting the dart with the rest of the suitcase. All he's missing is the a final piece. He thinks of it and skips downstairs. Gumball takes the phone out of the holder and inputs Penny's phone number. After a few rings, someone picks up.

"Hello, Fitzgerald residence," Penny's father says.

"Umm. Hi! Mr. Fitzgerald! Can I speak with Penny please?" Gumball asks timidly, sweating for some reason. The phone goes silent.

"Hello?" Penny says.

"Oh, hi Penny!" Gumball greets. "So, when is your flight to Las Vegas?"

"Um, we're getting ready to go here. Why?"

"I just wanted to say goodbye before you left," Gumball lies innocently.

"Gumball, I don't think they let well-wishers into the airport. Thanks for keeping me in mind though-"

"Uh- what gate are you?" Gumball questions nervously, hoping he won't sound too suspicious for asking.

"Gumball, really. I don't want you to get in trouble-"

"Please?" He hears Penny's sigh.

"Alright fine. It's Gate A9, but please don't come. I really don't want you getting into some serious trouble," she explains, obviously concerned.

"It's okay Penny. See you there- I mean, see you when you come back! He-he," Gumball slaps his forehead for this. "What was I thinking?" he whispers away from the phone.

"Okay. Thanks for your thoughtfulness. Bye!" she hangs up.

"Great! Now for the ride!"

* * *

After everyone's asleep, Gumball decides it's the perfect time to go, 11:00. Still groggy for his longer-than-average nap, he quietly gets out of bed, still in his normal clothes. He puts on his disguise and takes his suitcase. "See you there," he whispers quietly. Gumball slowly opens the door and makes sure he doesn't leave it ajar. He grabs an apple for the road and exits the Watterson property.

Gumball takes a long, hard sniff at the crisp night air. "Wait," Gumball whispers to himself. "Where's the airport?!" he gets on his knees and whispers loudly, "NOOO!"

Just as he does that, he sees the Fitzgerald car drive by. "...OO- oh. This was easier than I thought." He tries to do a brisk jog to follow it, but it became tiring quickly. At the next intersection, Gumball stops and pants loudly, sweating in his sweater loudly.

"Hey kid, you need a ride?" He activates grown-up mode.

"Huh?" he says in the deepest voice he can. 'I can really use my deep voice from earlier (The Kids)' he thinks to himself. "Oh. Hello! I was just wondering where the airport is!" Gumball coughs from the sudden and unexpected voice change.

"Oh. Well the airport is on this right, turn on the next two lefts and go down Airport Way. Just keep going until you meet the airport," Patrick explains. He takes a moment to think about.

"Thank you!" Gumball manages to say without coughing maniacally.

"Alright, you're welcome. Now we gotta go now or we miss our flight!" Penny looks out the back seat window and mouths, 'Gumball?' They drive away to their right after seeing that there aren't any cars moving.

'They're moving pretty fast. I gotta run now' Gumball thinks. He sprints as fast as he can down the road and sees the car turn to the left. 'Chase time!'

* * *

Gumball spots a scooter leaning against the wooden fence. As he pulls up the handlebars, the handle pulled a string from within the fence. An alarm was raised red flashing lights emerged at the top of the fence. "What the?!" Gumball says.

The fence is lowered to reveal a small white bunny.

"Rosie?!" Gumball asks in shock. She was within a glass shell, and the ground beneath her floated up, revealing that there was a ship dig into the ground.

"No one touches my scooter!" She shrieks, a control panel in front of her. Gumball stood there motionless.

"Uh-uh.. it dropped and I- picked up from the ground!" Gumball uses and gives a sheepish grin. Rosie's eyebrows furrow.

"I have legal surveillance and incriminating evidence and permission to use force against you!"

"What?! Why?!"

"THEFT OF PROPERTY!" Two gatling guns emerge from the body. Gumball's jaws drop.

* * *

He begins to furiously pedal away from the fence.

"GET BACK HERE!" She says over a speaker. "I HAVE THE RIGHT TO CLAIM THAT SCOOTER MINE!" Two rockets go straight for Gumball, which blow up behind him.

"Ah!" He says, his adrenaline stopping him from getting tired. "Can I just borrow it until I get to the airport?!" Gumball yells over the speeding ship.

"Sorry I couldn't hear you over MY MACHINE GUNS!" The gatling guns open fire, bullets grazing Gumball. He turns on the next left as Mr. Fitzgerald had instructed. Right behind him was Rosie, turning up her jets so she could catch up. At this, Gumball panics and goes as fast as his legs could carry him.

A fork in the road was getting close, about fifty more meters. Rosie inches closer and closer to Gumball. Rosie stopped firing bullets, but she had other weapons within her arsenal in her mind. She unleashed something kind if like what Bobert.

Laser guns.

* * *

Gumball is definitely scared now. There isn't really anywhere he could possibly turn to. Before the fork he spots a sign.

"Elmore International Airport," he reads aloud. "...to the right!" he swerves over to the right while Rosie begins her onslaught. Her lasers fly everywhere, igniting small bushes.

"Surrender the scooter now Watterson and I will let you go!" screamed Rosie. Gumball stuck out his tongue.

"Never!" He declares brazenly. Gumball sees a laser pointed towards his head. "Uh okay here you go!" He hops off of the scooter and rolls on the cement. Rosie stops, picks up the scooter with an automated claw from within the ship and flies away.

"So much for a scooter..." Gumball walks up the road, kicking a pebble. He walks up the ramp where drop-offs were made. His suitcase and disguise ready, he takes a deep breath and walks on. Gumball spots a familiar car; black.

A family of peanuts and a fairy were rushing to get to their gate.

"Penny!" Gumball whispers.

* * *

**Okay, so Gumball makes it to the airport. Yay.**

**I need to ask y'all a question. Is it okay to have small bits of different shows/cartoons within a story? Maybe about a half a chapter long. Long enough to involve the story, but short enough to not be a crossover. Is such a thing possible?**

**PM me about it plox.**

**Thanks anyways!**

**-DWalkthroughGuy**


	11. The Airport

Gumball was shocked that he was still early. Now it's time to stay right behind Penny. He didn't want her to get too far ahead, but he didn't want to fall behind either. Now he needs a ticket exactly for A9 to Las Vegas. This proved to be harder than Gumball thought it would've been. 'I have to see their plane tickets' he thinks.

"An undercover detective!" he says out loud. He takes out the shiny dart. "This better work." He spots a crumpled piece of paper with a briefcase. He was on the phone. Gumball rushes to him and holds up the dart. "This is loaded with hazardous chemicals. Show me your valid plane ticket!" He raises an eyebrow, skeptical.

"How do I know that's just a normal gaming dart?" he asks. Gumball growls. "Okay, okay! Here. I'm going to a business trip over to Detroit! Nothing special. Just part of my job." Gumball skips all of the jargon and looks at the location. It was a direct flight towards Detroit, Illinois.

"Darn!" he grumbles and throws the ticket back to the businessman. "I'm not going to need this anymore." Gumball walks up to an old floppy disk with a rolling bag.

"Sir! Show me your flight ticket!" Gumball hisses. The old man turns to him.

"Speak up son!" he replies in an old voice.

"Sir! I'm going to have you to show me your flight ticket to wherever your plane goes to!"

"I don't have a plane." Gumball sighs.

"Well, duh, but- Do you know where you're going?"

"I'm going to the airport!" he chuckles.

"What? No. Sir, are you going to Las Vegas?" Gumball tries, growing anxious. He puts down his outstretched arm and puts away the dart.

"I'm not going to love eggs. I'm already married!" he laughs softly. "You kids." He pats Gumball on the head.

"No! Are you flying to Las Vegas?" Gumball says a bit more testily this time.

"If I had wings!" he laughs a bit louder. Gumball storms away, clearly not finding what he was looking for. Gumball finds another person, this time a young a woman in her twenties.

"Hey you!" Gumball growls. She looks from her phone, slightly startled.

"Oh! Hi there, can I help you?"

"Are you boarding to Las Vegas?" Gumball demands fiercely.

"Uh...yes...yes I am-"

"Show me your ticket!"

"Sorry, kid, I can't show it to strangers-" Out of impulse, Gumball stabs the needle into her arm. She recoils in shock, immediately falling drowsy a few seconds later. "I just...need...to.." she falls unconscious and collapses at Gumball's feet. Smirking at his success, he bends down to pick up his prize.

The paper glistened like receipt paper, reflecting light from the street lights. Gumball read the destination clearly: McCarran International Airport. "Yes!" He whispers to himself. He plucks the dart off of her arm just in case they'll investigate it. Gumball, stuffing the ticket under his hand, grabs his suitcase and catches up with Penny.

* * *

Anais and Darwin finally reach Elmore Airport, their destination. "He better be here!" Anais remarks, panting.

"When you said cancel his move," Darwin begins in between breaths. "I didn't think of running twenty blocks to stop our insane brother flying to Las Vegas at 11 o' clock in the night."

"Yeah me neither. Come on! They must be boarding!" Anais runs ahead of her brother, reaching the front doors of the majestic airport. The tiled floor was polished well and the carpeted areas were spotless, leaving no trace of dirt behind. People with luggage were bustling around the airport. Employees vacuumed the floor, manned the check-in stations and ran the shops. "How are we gonna find him?"

Darwin cranes his neck to get a better view. He can't find Gumball anywhere, but then he remembers a detail from earlier. "Oh! Anais! I think I remember Gumball was wearing some disguise to hide his identity!"

"That's sounds so like Gumball. Okay, what was it like?" Darwin puts his hand on his chin and thinks about it.

"Well, I think he had a trench coat on," Darwin begins. Anais looks for anyone in a trench coat. There were too many people everywhere. Anais grunts.

"Come on, let's move further in. We need a better look," Anais leaps ahead of Darwin, following right behind her. "Anything else distinguishing?"

"I think he had a mustache," Darwin replies.

"How do you know this stuff?" Anais asks, guessing where to go next.

"I'm guessing. Gumball would do that," Darwin assumes. "We have to pass the security to get to the gates!" Anais stops and thinks. She says out loud,

"But how?"

* * *

Gumball, sweating in his trench coat, was only two people away from Penny. He hoped and hoped that she won't turn around, or anyone would turn around. He was biting his coat collar, waiting to be spotted and stopped. "Almost there," Gumball whispers. Penny's sister was going through the metal scanner now.

He didn't dare turn back. That'd risk showing his face, and he couldn't afford a petty failure. Gumball picks up his briefcase and moves forward in line. He takes out the crumpled ticket and straightens it out the best he can. "McCarran Airport, here we- I come!" He whispers. Now it's his turn.

He shows the ticket to the man working at the scanning station. "Las Vegas! Hehe, I remember when I went there. Who you visiting?" He stamps the ticket for validity and hands it back to Gumball.

"Uh...my sick mother.." Gumball nearly forgets to do his deep voice. The man looks at him weirdly.

"Alright, just put your briefcase and step through the metal detector," he commands. Gumball walks past the machine and takes his briefcase coming out from the other side.

"Free," Gumball says out loud. "A9," he repeats the mantra to himself. He walks past security guards and checks where he could be. The nearest gate was to his left, C19. Groaning, Gumball begins to run to the left, hoping to get the end quick enough. After minutes of running forward, Gumball was breathless. He looks up, Gate D20, it was the end.

"What?" He shrieks. A security guard drives a cart towards him. It was a gate shuttle.

"Hello sir. You seem quite tired. May I help you?" The man asks politely. Gumball sits in the four-person cart and puts his briefcase on his lap. "When is your flight?"

"Uhh...I'm not sure.. It's Gate A9. I didn't get to check the schedule yet," Gumball lies. The man perked up.

"Uh oh, were over at the D Gates and we're running out of time. They're boarding now!" Gumball began to grow nervous.

How's he gonna get there now?

* * *

**Whoa! A new chapter! Expect this constant flow now, nothing explosive for a while.**

**Thanks anyways!**

**-DWalkthroughGuy**


	12. The Cart

Gumball grew more nervous as time was running thin, and the flight was nearing. "Umm...can't this thing go any faster?" Gumball asks. The guard checks the simple controls. He glances at his watch, sensing Gumball's worry.

"They should be boarding pretty quick," he sighs. "Well, if we have to get there fast, I'm going to have you sign this waiver here. This exempts me from all responsibility of injury or damage to your personal belongings." Too worried to think of anything, Gumball signs it.

Wishing it didn't have to come to this, the guard reaches over to the stick shift and reluctantly changes the setting to a weird and unfamiliar spot. "Hold on tight!" He yells. Confused, Gumball slightly holds on to the seat in front of him. A low drone began in the engine of the ship.

The cart exploded forward, the engine now a large roar. The driver rapidly steers the cart to avoid people on the way. Gumball assumes they're going at least 70 miles per hour. The speed blew air back into the cart. Gumball tries to avoid this by ducking under the seat. 'Hopefully this would help', Gumball thinks.

Unluckily for him, he was wrong. There was no telling what this man will try to pull off next. He's already being thrown around mercilessly against his will around the seat, flopping around holding on for his dear life.

The cart halts almost immediately, inertia pressing Gumball against the seat in front of him. "That will be $50,000, sir," the man nonchalantly says from the front. $50,000?! Gumball didn't even have a hundred! Shocked at the large number, Gumball needed another plan. Taking out the remains of his dart, he slyly formulates a ploy. "Hold on a minute sir, just have to get my credit card," Gumball lies. The man patiently nods and looks forward.

Gumball arms his needle. "Sir! Look out!" Gumball points forward. The man, taking his bait, spins forward. Gumball sticks the dart in the back of his neck.

"AARGH!" the cart operator shrieks. "WHAT WAS THAT?!" Gumball ducks underneath the seat, takes his briefcase and scurries away from the scene. He steps into the large annex: Gate A9. He cranes his neck and searches for Penny and her family within the large crowd lining up to board the plane. Gumball checks his plane ticket and looks at the line he was supposed to be in: Line 4. He had some time, as people from Line 2 were the ones boarding right now.

* * *

Disgruntled after their fourth failed attempt, Darwin and Anais sat on the bench and tried to make another plot. "That's it!" Darwin stands up from his seat. Anais was a bit startled. "We're gonna go gorilla style!"

"Darwin, we have to stick with the stealth mindset. If he can slip past airport security, so can we," Anais replies. Darwin ignores his sister's advice. He's had enough of the endless failures and conspicuous disguises. It was hard to admit, but Gumball was better prepared than both of them. Gumball's siblings didn't bring any supplies.

"I don't care! I'm getting through by force!"

"Darwin, wait!" but it was too late. His sister groaned. "Ugh!" Catching up with his infuriated brother, she spots him motioning her over.

"I need you to walk up to that guard and ask her for some help finding someplace," Darwin commands. Her sister rolls her eyes.

"Is this necessary?"

"What? You got a better idea?" Anais groans and shakes her head. "Yeah, that's what I thought. Now go!" Anais walks up to the security guard very innocently. She turns on her cute voice.

"Excuse me? I'm lost," she gives that lady the best puppy eyes she can possibly manage to muster. The lady looks down on the pink bunny and gets on her knees to her level.

"Aww. Don't worry. Just stay here, I'll alert the airport." She whips out a transmitter and talks to it. "Excuse me, Elmore Airport occupants! We have a lost, pink bunny." She bends down over and covers the microphone. "What's your name, sweetie?"

"Anais," Anais squeaks.

"Anais here is at the exit of the airport gates and is wearing an orange dress with a white collar and white shoes. Please come to the airport gate area exit if you happen to know who she belongs to," she finishes her message on the intercom, the sound of her voice reverberating throughout the spacious airport. The announcement averted attention towards the exit, but it didn't faze anyone. "Don't worry sweetie. They could just be taking a while." Anais begins to tear up. Extra bonus.

Darwin, getting the gist, clears his throat and waits for a moment before standing up from his position. He walks to the two in a tired and slightly irritated manner. "There you are!" Darwin says in a whispery voice. "Mom and I were worried sick! We were looking for you everywhere! Where were you this whole time?"

Anais tries to take a stab at the acting. "I-I was just-"

"No excuses!" Darwin hesitated a bit and tried to make up some backstory. "Mom said to bring you back!" he stops to think some more. "Come on, let's go to back to the café before Mom throws a fit!" Darwin takes Anais' hand and runs off of towards the airport gates. The guard let them go, assuming that their mom really was in the airport. She chuckles. 'Kids,' she thinks.

"I can't believe that actually worked!" Anais remarks.

"Me neither," Darwin replies. "Alright, now we gotta go and find Gumball. I bet his flight's at least boarding by now!"

* * *

**Well here's the long overdue update of "The Band". I was working on my other story "Night of the Living Bread", my new Team Fortress 2 fanfiction. Take a look if you know what the heck that wacky, FPS is and happen to play it.**

**Thanks anyways!  
-DWalkthroughGuy**


	13. The Flight

Gumball was ready to board when he sees two familiar people running up to him. It was Darwin and Anais. "Oh no," Gumball says to himself. He turns on his deep voice and slaps the ticket onto the table.

"Sorry sir, but this next flight isn't boarding yet. It'll be ready shortly," the counter lady smiled. Gumball grumbled, takes the ticket and storms away, taking a seat in one of the seats at the gate.

'Is it too late to get back at him?' Darwin wondered. They were feeling a little hesitant. They don't want to risk running inside and getting caught, but they're afraid of letting him go. They see him sitting down at the gate. "He's over there! He's not boarding yet!" Anais points at Gumball, who was sulking with his briefcase.

Anais and Darwin crouch down to sneak up at Gumball. "You hold him down, and I'll do the talking," Anais assigns. Darwin nods, not breaking his stare forward.

He lunges over to the seat and clamps Gumball's mouth shut. Meanwhile, Anais lands on the other side. "Gotcha!" Darwin smirks, holding back Gumball's arms and legs. Anais stops next to Darwin. She smirks along Darwin and puts her hands on her hips.

"So Gumball, what's your plan?" Anais asks, striking jealousy along eith Gumball's defeat. She opens up Gumball's briefcase and takes out his fifty dollars. She leafs through it with her thumb.

"Mm-mph mph!" Gumball's voice is muffled by Darwin's hand.

"Speak louder!" Darwin commands roughly.

"Darwin! He can't talk with your hand over his mouth!" Anais snaps at Darwin. Darwin takes his hand off of Gumball's mouth and smiles sheepishly.

"Say that again Gumball?" Anais says, pacing slowly.

"I'm not telling you anything!" Gumball shouts unnecessarily, causing some to glance at the scene.

"Oh really?" Anais takes five one dollar bills from the stack.

"You're stealing! I'm telling Mom!" Gumball shouts again.

"No you won't, unless you want her to find out you snuck out to the airport and to Penny's house at night!" Anais retorts. Gumball thinks it over.

"Alright, here's the deal," Darwin starts. "You don't go on that airplane, and we won't say anything to Mrs. Mom." Gumball thinks it over again, humming.

"Okay here's MY deal." Anais and Darwin raise an eyebrow. "I give you one quarter of that fifty dollars, and you'll let me go." Anais silently calculates it in her head.

"$12.50? If Darwin and I split it, it only adds up to $6.25 for the both of us," Anais reports her findings. "How about fifteen dollars for us both?" Gumball's flight was almost finished boarding.

"Hold on, let me see what I can do," Gumball takes the stack of cash and pretends to count. Then he jumps, grabs his briefcase and slaps his ticket onto the desk. The lady dismisses him silently as Gumball snags the ticket.

"Wait!" Anais screams and tries to run after him, but a male guard stops her. Anais and Darwin stop and look up at the towering guard.

"Show me your ticket," he says in a deep, Russian voice. It already intimidated the both of them, despite not presenting any physical threat.

"Stop that cat!" Darwin points at Gumball, who was already passing the gate's corner and was now inside the plane.

"Show. Me. Your ticket," the man repeats, now looking down at Darwin.

"We didn't bring ours," the two grin sheepishly at the guard, who's stare didn't break. His sunglasses reflected Anais and Darwin.

"I cannot let anyone board without the consent of their ticket," the man ushered the two back to the long corridor outside the gate and walks away without a word.

"I guess it's telling Mom," Anais concludes. Darwin nods, looking at the plane, which was getting ready to leave. Anais and Darwin walk away from the gate and begin their journey to the exit. The two pass the exit guard, who smiled back at them.

"Were your parents there?" She asked, trying to be concerned.

"Not in the airport. She's at the nearest Chicken Shack now, getting us food," Darwin lies, continuing his stare forward. The guard smiles back and gets back on her phone.

* * *

Darwin and Anais walk out of the airport, now slightly infuriated that they couldn't stop Gumball. "We could've stopped him," Darwin begins.

"I know," Anais replies coldly. They're on the sidewalk exiting the stream of cars leaving the airport. "I don't need to be reminded of it."

* * *

Gumball reclined on his First Class seat. This definitely beats the Economy Class seats he's always been in whenever he traveled. A stocky man in a tuxedo walks to Gumball and looks at him up and down as if he was a ghost.

"Mr. Chanax? Is that you?" The man says. Gumball continues to stare at the man without a word. "Perhaps there was a mistake." The man walked away. Gumball smirks at his cleverness. He stole a ticket, he passed Airport Security and he surpassed Anais and Darwin. Gumball chuckles at the last one. It was unbelievable, and he was proud of himself for doing so.

Other businessmen look back at Gumball peculiarly, wondering where their business friend was at. Gumball places his briefcase underneath his seat, reclining back in his seat. Gumball was placed in a single seat next to the window. Apart from the tray and magazine pocket in front, Gumball also had access to a TV/Tablet that allowed him to play games and watch movies. The plane drives out of the gate and goes onward to its designated runway.

After the safety instructions, Gumball leans back in his hard-earned seat.

"Hello Las Vegas!"

* * *

**Hey! So I wrote a chapter here. Been a while.**

**I know this might not be so good, but I would like to thank the people that have supported me so far in ALL of my stories, especially the Fiction, which was my first story in all of ever. It's kind if accreted, and it wouldn't have happened without you guys. :D**

**Seriously, give me your P.O. box and I'll mail you some bread or something.**

**Thanks anyways!**

**-DWalkthroughGuy**


	14. The Fray

Gumball was still surprised he managed to hijack a ticket and fly to Las Vegas. "Maybe if I do the same thing I could sneak a vacation anywhere," Gumball thought about it for a moment and laughed. He isn't always going to have this tremendous amount of luck everywhere.

The plane lands about an hour later. Everyone was leaving now, but Gumball still has to keep his facade. Or does he? Most people here believed he was a child. He should stick to that then.

Gumball shuffles out of the airplane and into the Las Vegas airport. It was the McCarran Airport. Penny is probably far into the airport now. There were too many people to simply spot her. And if Gumball asked people, it would take too much time. How would he find her now? He looks off into the crowd and decides the best way to pull off this sniping job is to get into a high location; a classic technique for spotting specific people in a crowd. "Penny is also pretty bright and is easy to distinguish," he murmurs to himself. But first he has to find an actual high location.

All of the staircases didn't overlook the large crowd, and even if there was one, it was almost impossible to move forward in the crammed sea of passengers and flyers. He thinks of another solution: ask airport personnel.

* * *

Gumball walks to what looks to be a security guard. "Excuse me-" Gumball clears his throat, turning off his adult voice. He takes off his hat and looks up at him. He was a tall man, whose hat covered his eyes. He had a big mustache and didn't talk at all. "Excuse me, sir," Gumball begins. The guard ignores him. "Um, sir? Sir I need help looking for someone." He still ignores Gumball. Gumball clears his throat to get his attention and raises his voice a bit. "Sir? I need help looking for someone!"

Gumball repeated this process three more times. He was almost shouting now, and he began to tug on his leg. Despite his best efforts, the guard still didn't pay attention to Gumball. Gumball grunts and walks away with his briefcase in hand. "Dumb employees don't even help their own passengers. Learn some respect..." Gumball murmured on and on as he pushed his way through the ocean of passengers and rolling suitcases. He had to constantly jump, dive and leap past obstacles he encounters.

Eventually stopped talking and just pushed through the crowd with his suitcase, sometimes almost letting go with the heavy foot traffic. The further he went, the more he regretted leaving the airport guard. He was actually the only employee there, and possibly the only one he'd see for a long ways. There was a considerable amount of people, and Gumball didn't see an end to it.

It seemed like an eternity when Gumball finally saw a silver lining. A crack in the crowd. A sliver of freedom. He was so close, he saw it nearing closer and closer.

And he slips.

* * *

Gumball was a little dazed, and he could hear the people bustling around him, but he couldn't feel anything pushing against him. Everyone was shuffling in a random direction, but now there wasn't anything. He slowly opens his eyes.

He was surrounded by people, but he was on the ground. The cold floor felt nice after being stuck inside the hot flood of people, it was nice to feel something that isn't someone else. Gumball slowly opened his eyes and got up.

He balances himself as he almost topples over again. "Ugh. Wha..." He was at an island with a "CAUTION! WET FLOOR!" sign at the center. It was an oasis; a space of fresh air free from the busy people and rolling suitcases. He took deep breaths of the air he never got to experience since he got off of the plane. Gumball finds his suitcase and gets ready to get back into the action, when someone stops him.

"Hey kid," a gravelly, adult voice beckons. Gumball whirls around and finds the guard standing at the border of the oasis's ring. "You need help?" 'Finally,' Gumball thinks to himself.

He clears his throat and keeps his normal voice. "Um, yeah, do you know where the exit is?" The guard points forward, upstream of the moving crowd.

"It'll be fifty meters that way," he says. A walkie-talkie crackles. "Sorry kid, gotta take this call. Good luck." He runs back into the fray and disappears with the crowd.

"At least I got some help," Gumball says to himself. He grips his suitcase and gets ready to jump back into the river. "Okay, here I go." He positions the suitcase in front of him and takes a deep breath of fresh oxygen before diving back. The suitcase pushed some people out of the way, providing some leeway, but numerous people made it difficult to advance forward. There were too many to push away.

But Gumball couldn't give up. If he stopped with the forward force, he would be swept away with his suitcase in seconds. He pushes onward and struggles to get past a family of five. A little girl drops a pink teddy bear. It was smothered in sequins and glitter. The little girl extends her arm to get it. "No! Ms. Sparklebear! Mummy! I dropped Ms. Sparklebear!" Gumball looks at the girl and back at the teddy bear.

"No Kristy, our flight is boarding!" Her mom tugs on her arm. Gumball finds an energy drink and snatches it out of the teen's hand.

"Hey!" he says.

"Here!" Gumball tosses the can to the girl. The girl was beginning to disappear and held the can in confusion. "Drink it!" He had a plan.

"Why should I?" she retorts as she fades.

"Drink it and you'll get Ms. Sparklebear back!" Gumball had to raise his voice so she could hear it. Her eyes lit up. She quickly gulped down the whole can without hesitation.

"What the?" the teen's jaw dropped. "Thanks for wasting three dollars kid." He walks back with the rest of the people. Gumball smirks.

"Now give me Ms. Sparklebear!"the girl was disappearing.

"Here!" Gumball throws the pink teddy bear as far forward as he can. The reflective art on it made it shine like a flashbang in the air. At this point, the girl was gone. After a few seconds of anticipation, the girl zooms past Gumball at high speeds to retrieve the toy, knocking over the river of people in the process. Her wake was left with people dazed and slowly getting up.

"I got it, I got it!" the girl runs back to her mother, her bear tightly clutched to her chest. Gumball held on to his hat as she sped past. The wake provided the perfect free path for Gumball. Gumball lifts his suitcase and runs on top of the people still on the ground.

"Thank you, Ms. Sparklebear," Gumball mumbles. He walks past the surrounding fray with ease.

And for the first time since he landed, he saw the light of what looked like an exit.

* * *

**Finally! Another installment of The Band. This hiatus is over, and I'm back in the game. Expect my stories back in the archive. Eat bread!**

**Thanks anyways!  
-DWalkthroughGuy**


	15. The Meanwhile

Gumball sees the exit light begin to fade away as more people begin to pile up again. But this time, he made a fatal mistake. His rolling suitcase was not in front of him to give leeway. Now he had to physically fight the force himself.

But how can he battle this tremendous force? It simply had too much manpower to beat on his own. People surrounded all sides, so Gumball couldn't just whip the suitcase back in front of him. If he tried to jump over the suitcase so he was behind it when he landed, he would simply be flooded by the continuing force of people. Gumball needed a way to get past these people while still continuing his forward motion at the same time. This ensures he can keep up with the moving flood of people while trying to fix the situation at the same time.

However it was going to play out, Gumball had to think fast. He doesn't have much oxygen left to use, and the flood is getting stronger and stronger, meaning he has to use more and more air for his muscles to keep pushing. The more time he wasted trying to think while pushing only wasted more time.

He finally has an idea. He takes the handle of the suitcase and goes with the flow. He had to make his move quickly before he loses too much distance. Gumball leaps up and over the suitcase and turns the handle around. Now it's in front of him. He pushes on the handle, and the flood began to disperse at the suitcase. He didn't need to exert as much force.

"Haha!" Gumball struggles against the stream, pushing towards the exit light. After two minutes of struggling, the stream ends, and he tumbles into a "backwater" of the current to find that the exit sign was not an ordinary exit. "What?" He whispers. It was actually two doors that was an emergency exit.

"Errgh...come on!" Gumball walks deeper into the airport. His original goal was to find Penny, but now it was a matter of getting out. Gumball has an idea to just wait outside the main exit for her to come out.

* * *

**Meanwhile, back at Elmore...**

"Wait, so let me get this straight. Your brother stole a ticket from someone and managed to get on board without you guys using force?!" Nicole yells in her pink bathrobe.

"Well, 'force' the best word. More like...'negotiation'?" Anais says, scared she might let off her mom. "In that case yes, we did try to negotiate with him."

"And?"

"We failed." Nicole groans.

"We tried!"

"I know you guys did, Darwin. But you guys were the only line of defense, and you failed, which results in my kid flying in an airplane a couple hundred miles from here. But it's okay, you guys tried," Nicole explains, kissing Darwin on the forehead and walking to her bedroom.

"I can't tell if that was sincere or sarcastic," Anais notes to herself.

"And I can't tell why she left, she's neither tired or has to go cool down," Darwin adds. They both look at each other, shrug and walk back to their rooms. "Don't things usually work themselves out?" Darwin asks. Anais nods.

"Always."

From their bedroom, they hear glass shattering and a loud THUD from downstairs.

* * *

**Meanwhile at the McCarran Airport...**

Penny, using her little wings, floats next to her family with a suitcase dragging below her. "Where's the hotel we're staying at?" Penny questions.

"We'll take a taxi to it once we get out of this place," Patrick replies, dragging an even bigger suitcase. "I sure hope that Gumball kid didn't follow you."

"Me neither, he asked for my airport gate; isn't that the least bit suspicious?"

"Well you know how he is: crazy, drastic and would do illogical things that have a higher risk than their value."

"Yet I still love him..."

"You know what we said about that word-"

"Fine, I still like him. Better?"

Patrick looks ahead, thinking of the crazy, drastic and illogical Gumball kid. "Not by much..." He grumbles under his breath.

* * *

**Meanwhile back at the North Las Vegas Airport...**

Slowly, by the hour, Gumball gets more irritated. He's been waiting for more than four hours, trying to make it appear as if he was reading a book, but was craning his neck for a yellow, glowing fairy girl. Book or no book, the crowd by itself was making it too difficult to find her. He landed at about 12:50PM, and he got out of the exit after half an hour, so now it's 1:20 in the morning, approximately.

Add on to that the four (estimated) hours he's been waiting at the central exit, which makes it about 5:20 in the morning. Gumball miraculously hasn't fallen asleep yet. This is mostly due to his ever building rage. First he was let down by Penny, second Gumball is probably in big trouble, and thirdly he's in Las Vegas, at 5 in the morning, and he still can't find Penny.

The sleep is going to unexpectedly catch Gumball off guard, but he's depending on his adrenaline and anger to keep him awake until it's over. The first step is to find a motel or place to stay for Gumball. A hotel would most likely be too much to afford.

Gumball, reluctantly putting away his book and getting up, begins his trek into the city.

"Well at least Las Vegas is bright at night..." Gumball says, looking up to an almost starless night.

* * *

**For those kids that don't understand how starless nights happen, it's caused by Las Vegas's light pollution, meaning all the light from the city blocks out the faint light coming in from space. This explains why you don't see the Milky Way Galaxy everywhere you go at night.**

**For those people that do know it...eat some bread.**

**Thanks anyways!**

**-DWalkthroughGuy**


	16. The Address

Running through the cities proved to be a harder task than it sounded, and finding a motel that had vacancy was even harder. Gumball finds a back alley and sits down, leaning against the wall. Out of breath after running for a motel, he had to rest. Gumball needed an easier way to find a motel, so he walks up to a pay phone (after waiting in line for a few minutes) and furiously leafs through the book.

"Ah ha!" Gumball finds a motel he hasn't seen or visited yet.

"Hey kid, you gonna use the phone or what?" Gumball whirls around and see a middle aged man waiting in line.

"Uh no, sorry," he steps aside and lets then man take over the phone. Gumball takes one last peek at the phone book for the address. 'Henderson Ave. 1839, Henderson Ave. 1839' Gumball repeats the mantra, because he knows he might never get a chance to look at the phonebook again.

"Henderson Avenue, 1839." He rounds a corner entering Henderson Avenue, panting as he repeats the phrase,

"Henderson Avenue, 1839." Gumball passes a shop with the address 1864.

"Henderson Avenue, 1839." He nears closer to his target as he reaches an address 1842.

"Henderson Avenue, 1839." Gumball crosses the street from 1840 to reach 1839 only to find...

...it was dilapidated. "What..." Gumball says to himself, panting heavily after the brisk jog. "...happened...to this place?!" he outstretches his arms and stares at the dark corridors in the building. He had no other place to go to, and he definitely did not want to sleep out in the streets, not with all the weird people and busy cars and lights to keep him awake. Gumball also wouldn't want to set up a camp here either, for someone would have the perfect opportunity to rob his stuff and go on their way.

"Well, I guess I have no choice..." Gumball gulps as he reluctantly steps forward towards the rusty, green gate. Unfortunately for him, he didn't bring a flashlight. Gumball slightly pushes it open, sending crowds of rats and cockroaches heading for cover. Still a little hesitant, he slowly steps forward. What if someone kidnaps him on the spot? What if something bites him and he can't get to the hospital? What if he never gets out?

As long as questions keep swirling around his head, the more nervous he becomes. His heart rate goes up, his palms get sweaty and his eyes dilate. Something scratches the ground as it runs away. This was supposed to be an abandoned motel, right? Perhaps he could find a room somewhere.

Gumball, out of fear of the unknown, declines his own idea and sets camp right where he was standing. He could see the light from the outside, but his suitcase shouldn't be too visible. Gumball takes a blanket out of the suitcase to hide it. "This should do," Gumball whispers to himself. Hopefully it would.

Gumball, suddenly hit with a surge of drowsiness, seats himself next to his suitcase, closing his eyes to take a full cycle of sleep.

* * *

His eyes snap open. "Gumball..." Gumball looks around, everything dark and black except for a dim light falling from above. He sees Penny, floating along his right shoulder. Gumball smiles a bit at the sight of her.

"Hey Gumball!" she says, waving. Gumball waves back.

"Hey Penny, what are you doing here?" Gumball asks, shifting himself to face the floating fairy.

"Well, I see you flew to Las Vegas..." Penny begins. Gumball nods. "And you did that to follow me..." Gumball nods. "And you didn't really think about the consequences of running away..." Gumball could see where this conversation was going.

"Well, you do understand why I did it..."

"Yes, Gumball, but that doesn't mean you have to go to extreme measures. There's no need to be so..."

"So what?"

"...defensive...over me..." Penny rubs her left arm, a bit regretful of declining Gumball's overwhelming love.

"Yeah, but sometimes in life you just have to do things that seem ridiculously ridiculous to get the things you want!"

"What are you getting out of this?"

"The Most Liked Person in Penny's Opinion, of course!" Penny shakes her head, looking at Gumball in disappointment. Gumball looks back puzzlingly. One Correction comes up from the darkness, surrounding Penny. They all look at Gumball with a malicious smile.

"Penny...what's going on?" Gumball crabwalks backwards on the ground as Penny and One Correction grow larger to his size, staring down at him.

"I'm afraid you can't take that title, Gumball. It's too late for that," Penny looks at one of the other band members affectionately. "Someone's already taken your place..." Gumball opens his mouth in shock.

"No..no..I-I can't believe you-"

"Well, you better start getting used to it now, because it'll stick like this..." Penny nears closer to Gumball's ears. "Forever..." The word resonated in his mind, torturing him with every echo.

"No, no...NO!"

* * *

Gumball wakes himself up with his own screaming. "AAAAAAH-oh." Gumball pats himself down. "Ha. I'm alive! Penny's alive-" It hit him.

"Penny..." He had to do some thing about it. Maybe Penny said she and her family wanted to get away as a subtle excuse to get to the concert. What if they had long, overnight conversations on the telephone? What if they meet in the concert and she falls in love for one, or even ALL of them?! Gumball clutched his head, feeling a headache come on. He really, REALLY had to do something about it.

It was around mid morning, or 9:00 (after asking a disgruntled and curt businessman). He didn't bring much in his suitcase apart from spare clothes, a toothbrush, a handkerchief, a box of matches, his notebook containing his "infatuation research" (along with writing supplies, of course) and a half filled box of pancake mix he brought as a last resort to cook if he didn't find any food. Other than that, the suitcase was quite vacuous. The only thing Gumball considered bringing with him was the notebook and a pencil, but where was the concert even at?

Maybe he should ask someone for help. Gumball, dusting himself from the tremendous amount of dirt from the night before inside the abandoned hotel, creaks open the green gate and asks a young looking teenager hyped on caffeine and over-enthusiasm. "Do you know where the One Correction band is tonight?" It took a while for her to process the simple information with all the caffeine in her blood.

"The concert is going to be over at the Plaza Hall on Washington Street address 1919!" She excitedly pushes through the crowd in front of her as she desperately tries to burn off the caffeine. Of course, the caffeine will wane on its own, and the crash is going to be nasty.

"Plaza Hall, Washington Street 1919." Gumball says out loud, nodding. "I'll camp there 'till then." Gumball decides to leave his suitcase here and go out with the notebook and pencil to this Hall, hoping he wouldn't forget it on the way.

* * *

**Okay okay, I know this isn't very exciting, but that's just how I roll: setting setter chapters may or may not be interesting, but they do ultimately lead to the main idea, which is positively interesting.**

**I'll give you time to think about that.**

**Thanks anyways! With bread!**

**-DWalkthroughGuy**


	17. The Endeavor

Gumball's adventure under the sewers so far was not a fun one. He keeps popping up sewer lids only to discover that they're directly on the middle of the street, making for some close calls for Gumball. After fifteen minutes of randomly wandering around the waste, he finally makes it close to the plaza, but how would he get to a toilet? Is there even A toilet? It's an open-air concert; maybe there aren't any bathrooms in there at all, and the walls are heavily fortified and guarded. This might be Gumball's only chance.

Gumball, spotting a single small pipe driven into the wall connecting to the sewage system, unenthusiastically fitting inside of it like when the house filled with water (The Responsible).

* * *

**Meanwhile in Elmore...**

The rest of the Wattersons drag suitcases along the floor (except for Darwin, who had a briefcase instead full of his lunchbox full of fish flakes, an extra pair of shoes and a hat) making a ruckus doing so. "Come on everyone! Our plane departs in ten minutes!" Nicole barks, rushing past confused and startled bystanders. "We have to make it to that flight! It's the only one to Las Vegas in days!" Anais, Darwin and especially Richard begin to tire out from all of the back and forth running they had to do, raising an eyebrow at Nicole.

"No, it was in the D gates, was it?" Nicole said.

"Never mind! Sorry! She said B gates!" she slips again.

"Uh oh, wrong one. Maybe she said C gates?" she tries. Now the Wattersons were on their way to the E gates, all the way on the other side of the airport.

"I think we need to let the kids rest-"

"LET THE KIDS REST?! ARE YOU INSANE? THIS IS THE ONLY CHANCE WE'LL EVER HAVE TO GET TO GUMBALL!" Nicole shoots back, receiving a worried look from Richard. Clearly, Anais and Darwin needed to rest. Anais already had a hard time trying to run in the first place, as that wasn't something she was skilled at. "Now come on! We need to pick up the pace! Our flight boards in five minutes!"

The Wattersons reach the E gates, where they finally, after trips of the entire diameter of the airport at least five times, reach gate E4, which was where their flight was leaving.

* * *

**Back at Las Vegas...**

Gumball continues squeezing up his way through the tight pipe. Not as tight as the pipe he did a few years ago, but it still burned quite a bit of time just to get into it, let alone shimmying his way up it. Gumball wasn't really sure if this actually lead to a restroom, but he had to guess; his only way in was this way. He eventually saw a small, tunneled light at the end, which looked to be the end. Gumball grins. 'Victory!' he says in his mind.

His happiness drains away as he hears a giggle of what sounds to be a female, and then the turning on of a faucet. His wide grin drops immediately as he frantically panics. 'What do I do, WHAT DO I DO?!' Gumball begins to whimper as he shuts his eyes very tightly. Gumball imagines of all the bad things that could happen at this very moment: could he drown? Will he get arrested and sent back to Elmore? Is Penny possibly backstage with One Correction but Gumball is stuck in a sink pipe so he can't do anything about it?!

His mind frenetically rambled on and on as he jerks his arms and torso to wiggle free from the pipe's grasp. Then, the water came in. 'Hopefully the water here is clean...' Gumball winces and opens his mouth just enough so water can pass...

Gumball hears the water flow down the drain before eventually having to swallow some to buy time. 'Ugh! This water tastes horrible! Is it even safe to drink?! OW OW! MY LEG! IT'S CRAMPING UP! OW, OW!' Gumball's muffled whining continues as he shakes harder at the pipe he was stuck in. He knows he can't go up any higher, so he'll have to focus on busting the pipe itself.

Unfortunately, the safe-but-bad-tasting-water got worse as the taste of hand soap filled his mouth. "URK! Ugh...MMF!" he struggles harder as he continues to buy himself more time, an ability that'll run out any time soon. After five seconds of intense struggling, the sink stops, and Gumball is left with silence. He stops struggling as well. Does the person hear him?

No response was given after the sink stopped, not even footsteps walking away, just utter silence. This worried Gumball. He wasn't sure if he was suspicion was roused or that person was just too quiet for Gumball to hear through the thick metal. His cramp grew worse, but he kept his mouth shut.

Gumball stayed still for the next ten seconds, still waiting for a response. Was he just not able to hear through the pipe or what? He tried to look upwards through the light, but his field of vision got shifted when he squirmed, now trying to look back at the light was like trying to look up at his own forehead.

* * *

Saying 'screw it' to the unexpected silence, he begins squirming again, in hopes of either moving up the pipe or dislodging it to the point of it busting open. This, of course, caused his leg to hurt all over again. The cramp throbbed as Gumball struggles, eventually the pipe creaks, bends sharply and gives way.

Gumball is surprised that it worked in the first place. Was his body really capable of squirming itself out of metal? He looks at the pipe, all rusty on the outside with some of the bolts missing. "Oh..." Gumball says to himself. He stretches his legs until he hears the satisfying _crick_ that killed the cramp. His clothes were all wet, and it wreaked of sewage.

All of a sudden, sounds of footsteps and a deep, booming voice nears the bathroom. "And where was he located, ma'am?" a man bellows throughout the hallway. His footsteps grow louder as Gumball realizes:

He left his briefcase in the sewers.

* * *

**Lel. Bet you didn't see that coming didn't you?**

**For those wondering where the end is, I'd say 20 chapters is around 1/2 - 2/3 way there. Yes, I know, pretty far away. This statistical figure might change along the way. I'm just saying, this is the vague, estimated goal. :P**

**That's a lot of upcoming bread!**

**Thanks anyways!  
-DWalkthroughGuy**


	18. The Encounter

Gumball cricks his back as he stretches the rest of his body. 'Now I have to go and get my briefcase...' he states in his mind, his face showing anger. He snaps back to reality as the sound of footsteps near the door. "Crud!" Almost out of pure instinct, Gumball dives under a stall and hides...

The restroom door swings open, the door slamming on the wall. "So you think he was in the pipe-" The woman and security guard see the rusty pipe lying on the ground. "Umm...are you sure-"

"Yes I'm sure!" The woman said in a very conspicuous New York accent. "He was in here and he was complainin' about his leg or somethin'!" So she DID hear Gumball!

"Well ma'am..." the guard replies, readjusting the position of his hat. "We'll look into the stalls to see if he or she are hiding." Gumball could feel the guard near his stall. He was at the last one.

One by one, Gumball could hear the door of the bathroom stalls being opened one by one, the sound of them shutting audible as he continues onto the next stall door. "Nothing here yet ma'am-"

"Keep looking!" she nearly shouts. The guard gets the gist and throws up his hands in defense.

"Alright! I'll keep going!" Gumball wishes he never said anything at all, but it was too late. He would be caught, and he would be sent home, where his mom would probably lynch him. The second to last door opens and closes, and Gumball awaits...

The door swings open, the guard looks inside, and closes it.

"For the last time ma'am, there's no one inside any of the stalls-"

"Let me see fo' myself!" she walks over to each stall, slamming the doors open without bothering to close them. After glancing for a mere half-second, she moves on. Fortunately for Gumball, she barely even looked into the spot enough to catch him.

"See?"

"I know I know!" the lady storms out of the bathroom, and the guard files on after her. After a few seconds of anticipatory waiting, Gumball finalizes that the coast was clear and pops his head out of the toilet bowl, gasping for air. After he got a minute to get back to his senses (and getting over the fact that he just bathed in toilet water of a public stall for 60 seconds), he climbs out of the toilet and gets a bunch of paper towels to dry himself. After he deems himself "dry enough", he takes a deep breath and opens the restroom door, quickly stepping out into the hall as not to appear to be visiting the girls' bathroom.

* * *

Gumball looks at both sides of the hallway and realizes: this isn't a normal public restroom! It must be one backstage! Gumball was grinning from ear to ear. He walked right into place.

After a moment of celebration, he hears the footsteps and voices of five Australian teenagers walking into the hallway. Quickly, Gumball hides back into the girls' restroom, hoping that a female won't enter any time soon.

Luckily, they were the voices of males, who were conversing amicably.

After they passed, Gumball opened the door just a crack to peek, and sees that the five were gone. He sneaks out and tiptoes across the hallway to see where the group was headed, because Gumball is definitely sure that those were some teenager boys.

"One Correction?" he whispers to himself. "Maybe it is them!"

At the sound of a voice, one of them turn around. "Oi...what are you doin' here?" He says. Gumball freezes. "Do you have a backstage pass? Are you new working here?" Gumball froze. There was no excuse in the world he could think of that would most likely fool these guys completely, but he decided to give it a shot.

"Uh...yes...I is work here..." Gumball says in the best mexican accent he could muster. Although the accent might have been exaggerated a bit too much, because two of them were exchanging skeptical glances, they seemed to ignore it.

"Where's your employee badge?" another asks.

'Oh great, now what?' Gumball's mind scrambles for an answer. "Uh, I don't know what...badge are..."

"Every worker here should have one."

"Security!" another one calls before Gumball had a chance to open his mouth. Two buff, suited men come right behind Gumball and take his arms, dragging him away from his opportunity. But he had to ask himself, what else could he have done?

'My claws could cut jugulars! I could knock them brain dead with my briefcase!' Gumball mentally rambles. He was eventually led out to a backstage door and quite literally thrown out of the building, the door behind him shutting loudly.

* * *

Gumball walks down the streets of Las Vegas, with only his sewage-coated trench coat, ragged briefcase and the fierce glances of disgust he'd get from some people. He had failed his mission. One Correction would play there tonight, and Penny would arrive...

"That's it!" Gumball holds up his index finger. "I need to stop Penny!"

'But where can I find where she is?' Gumball thinks. He then concludes that he'll have to guard the entryway very discreetly, as no loitering was allowed. He stands a good twenty feet from the entrance, making sure to check both sides of the street.

After only five minutes of waiting, Gumball smiles maliciously as a taxi with Penny inside rounds the corner. Running across the street, Gumball smashes a car window, unlocks the door, climbs inside and hotwires it quickly.

"My car!" someone yells.

'No matter now' Gumball thinks, swiftly turning the car the other direction. He speeds towards the taxi and, just as Penny was about to open the door, Gumball collides with the front bumper of the taxi. Both cars are already in a horrible state, but the taxi had to get away fast. Gumball wonders why they didn't just abandon the car. He ignores it, knowing that a car chase only gives him more of a chance to stop Penny.

Gumball had driven a car by himself before, even though he was obviously too short to reach the pedals. What he did do, however, was use water bottles taped onto sandals he'd wear to do the footwork. But since the owner didn't have any of those, he'd have to stick to rolled up magazines held together with rubber bands.

Pedal system established, Gumball steps on the gas and drives the car forward at an amazing speed. His family's car(s) didn't have an accelaration this fast! He follows the taxi's routes carefully, but the car in front of him was more experienced in driving and putting Gumball in the fray of traffic.

However, a car behind Gumball busted through another car as it sped after him.

"A three way chase?! But who could that be?!" Gumball screams, heading straight for a brick wall.

* * *

**THIS STORY HAS RISEN FROM THE DEEAAD!**

**ARISE, MY STORY! AWAKE FROM YOUR ETERNAL SLUMBER!**

**Anyways, I'm just glad I can work on this now.**

**Thanks anyways!**

**-DWalkthroughGuy**


	19. The Chase

Gumball was screaming as he tried to steer the car away from the oncoming wall, but instead was still hydroplaning towards it. Suddenly, a car from behind bumps into him and instead pushes him forward. Thankful, but eager to get back to business, he looked at the car behind him. It was another taxi, but with...

"MOM?!" Gumball screams louder than when he had almost crashed. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING..." A flashback appears in his mind at the Elmore Airport, before he had boarded the flight. He recalls his encounter with his siblings. "Anais..." he whispers.

Now Gumball had to not only stop Penny, but also shake Mom off his tail. Gumball groans, pushing the magazines harder on the pedals.

"DARWIN!" Gumball hears Anais shriek behind him. "Fire!" Jelly beans pelted the car from behind. Of course, it never did much in the long run, but it distracted Gumball quite a bit, giving him more distance between him and Penny. Gumball wasn't entirely sure if the rest of his family was defending her, but he assumed they were. That only made the problem even worse than before.

Gumball finds a clear spot in traffic and looks around at what he could use in the car. Something, ANYTHING to hold his family back. First was the glove box. There, he found four empty glass bottles, a half-used pack of cigarettes, a lighter, more rolled up magazines and a box of tissues. "I can make use of this..." Gumball says to himself, keeping his eyes on the road.

* * *

Nicole looks angrily at Anais and her machine gun brother. "You haven't slowed him down at all!" their mother screams, frustrated at their failure. "Guys, there's a toolbox in the back. Anais, you take the wheel. I'll build an extension for your brother..." Nicole crawls to the backseat while Anais crosses to the driver's seat, where Richard was dozing heavily riding shotgun.

Loud sounds like a wrench, a buzzsaw and a hammer came from Nicole's "workbench", which also happened to be the backseat. After a minute, she holds up a helmet like object and puts it on Darwin, who almost falls over. "Agh! Why is this...so heavy?" he complains, trying to hold up the extension with his hands.

"It's okay Darwin, it'll probably be over fast," Nicole assures, putting the rest of the jellybean packet into an ammunition slot. Anais looks back at them, slightly concerned.

"Mom, are you sure that's safe-"

"DON'T QUESTION MY FACILITATION OF YOUR BROTHER YOUNG LADY!" Nicole shrieks, firing entire bursts of jellybean at Gumball's tires, which were threatening to burst. "It's working so far, mind you!"

Gumball speeds past another car, the taxi still in plain sight. The driver of it hadn't put much effort into escaping anymore, as its dodging techniques were perfunctory. They may make some very sharp, sudden turns that would catch Gumball off-guard, but he would usually find an easy way to get back on their tail. However, the rest of the Wattersons were not much of a help either. That and the police force trailing behind them.

It was a huge chain, taxi chased by Gumball chased by Wattersons chased by police. It was a mess! Gumball didn't mind that at all. All he wanted to do was to stop Penny from arriving at the concert and ultimately keep his title as The Most Liked Person in Penny's Opinion!

Zooming past more cars and lines of traffic, the taxi ahead of them eventually made a loop so that it was right behind the Wattersons now. That meant that the police helicopter was right above Penny.

"Just perfect..." Gumball groans. He was in lead now, and there was no ultimate direction to head off to. Maybe if he made another loop around, he could catch his own tail! He swerves the car sharply to the left, nearly ripping him out of his seatbelt. He ran over the curb for a second, but got back on track immediately. Lucky for him, the traffic was fanning out when the sound of sirens and a helicopter reached them. "No more cover!" he mumbles, making another sharp left.

Even with the speed of his turns, he couldn't see the taxi anywhere.

"They must have left already!" Gumball makes a mad dash in reverse, drifting his car so it faced the other direction, and he sped down the boulevard like a bullet. "But where was the concert?" he thought, frantically looking at the green street signs in hopes of finding an answer, as if they'll suddenly turn into magical arrows leading him to safety.

"PLEASE PULL OVER!" a bullhorn boomed. More jellybeans hit the rear window, which were at the verge of shattering.

Gumball zips past the street he was looking for.

"Just around the corner..." he thinks, turning to the back of the block.

"I SAID PLEASE!"

Only to be met with road blocks.

A line of police cars and barricades stretched from one side of the street to the other. He was trapped. Gumball looks to the back, and the helicopter looms right over the intersection, turrets ready to fire. The car in which the Wattersons were in were also parked under it, Darwin ready to fire.

"Surrender now!" another bullhorn bellows.

* * *

Gumball frowns, not ready to give up yet. He slams on the accelerator, and the tires screech. He made a bottle launcher with the supplies he took from the glovebox, shattering it at a helicopter that was chasing him. Much to his surprise, the launcher was incredibly successful, forcing it to stay still, assess its own damage and hold fire.

"He's makin' a dash!" one of the officers said, and bullets fired. Some hit the windshield, while others hit the hood of the car. When Gumball finally managed to break through the barricades and a few cars, one of his tires went out with a loud _BANG_, and the sound of the helicopter was right on his tail, back in business.

'There's gotta be an easy way to stop her...' Gumball thinks as hard as his brain allowed him to. As he swerves off the lane and into a pole, his car manages to have enough momentum to mow through it, eventually continuing to speed down the sidewalk. Others dive out of the way as Gumball continues to think with all of his might.

The police bullhorns stop, as they realize their tirades meant nothing to Gumball. Gumball turns back to the same street he's been passing over and over again: the one in front of the concert. Right then and there, he sees the taxi that Penny was in. How could he tell?

"PENNY!" he screams amidst the screeching of his brakes. Turning the sharpest right the world's ever seen, Gumball smashes against a wall, flinging Gumball through the driver's side window and right in front of Penny's feet.

Grinning awkwardly, Gumball stands up. His body was covered in small cuts, bruises and little shards of glass. Despite this, Gumball put on his biggest grin, fighting back heavy tears. After all, he just went through an exhausting car chase (even though he's never driven before), a lot of jolts and jostles from the road, hundreds of pieces of glass and sliding his face across cement.

"Hey!" he says, the world around him silent.

* * *

**ARISE FROM THE DEAD, I ASK OF YOU!**

**I know it's been FOREVER since the last chapter. I hope to return to this story and, hopefully, work on it hard enough to bring this arc to a close.**

**Thanks anyways!  
-DWalkthroughGuy**


	20. The Perseverance

The entire crowd was silent. The only sound around them was the sound of the helicopter blades above and the police cars that parked next to Gumball's crashed taxi. "Put your hands in the air!" screamed one of the policemen. As the squad parks their cars, they all come out, guns pointed at Gumball.

'What a glorious way to end...' the blue cat thought to himself. Penny was gaping at him, not sure whether to be angry, shocked or happy that he went through all through that trouble just to see her. Slowly, Gumball puts his paws in the air, not turning around to see the task force behind him.

"Well, looks like you got yourself in quite a pickle. Get him out of here." After the command was given, a force tugs on Gumball's hands as he hears the click and cold metal of handcuffs wrap around his wrists. The police officer, which wasn't the familiar strawberry-glazed doughnut that Gumball was so familiar with, comes up in front of him. "You've caused quite a bit of commotion there, young man. Your parents better be able to pay thousands in damage costs. And bail. If you don't get executed." The officer tips his peaked cap at the officer that still had a hold of Gumball's arms. The cat was then dragged off, the shape of Penny fading into a blur as he was taken farther and farther from his one goal. Eventually, the world blended into one color, and everything went black.

* * *

Gumball woke up in a solitary space. It was claustrophobic and compact, leaving little room to walk around or do anything. All that was there in his cell was a small cot, a toilet and a sink, all within a couple dozen square feet. Despite his dream consisting of it, Gumball wished that this was all just a misunderstanding, and he would be let home with a technicality. He would cut his losses later; risking life and limb for someone else's emotions was too much of a gamble, and a gamble Gumball knew he lost.

Gumball began to think over what happened over the past few days, and how much of an impact they're really making. "It's time to get real with yourself, Gumball," he thinks to himself, musing about how easily he could imagine Anais, Darwin or Mom saying it. He would have laughed if it wasn't for the reason why they would be saying it. Gumball had made a mess of things, and the reality of the situation was catching up to him. This whole time, he wasn't skilled, or intelligent, or talented at all; he was just plain lucky.

The more Gumball thought of the victory he'll achieve at the end of the day, the rewards of working so hard until the very end, the more he realized how unrealistic he was being. He can't force Penny to like him, regardless of how much he worked. She may admire him for his adamance, but if anything, he'll be remembered for his stubbornness. Gumball was known to be stubborn, but it always made something in the end. This time, all it made was a mess.

Gumball comes back to the silent, lonely cement room. Perhaps it was what he deserved; some lone time and self-reminiscence never hurt anybody anyways. As he observes the room, he notices the toilet and the sink, wondering how he coI uld fit through the plumbing in order to escape. Sighing hopelessly, he discards the thought and falls back on his hard cot, only making him wince when he realized too late that the sheets didn't confirm to his body. "I wish I was back home again...I wish this was all over...I give up!" he thinks to himself. He could easily say it out loud, and he doubted anybody would hear it, but he kept it to himself, unable to find the energy in him to do anything. He had truly given up. He had hit rock bottom.

The blue cat closes his eyes, and tears of defeat slowly make their way down his face.

* * *

"Hey there, kid." A voice echoed and his eyes snapped open. "I couldn't believe you did it, but, you did."

"Huh?' Gumball sits up and looks out to the cell door. It was the voice of himself.

"It's me, or...you, from the past! I didn't think you could make it, but you did!" Gumball's little smile of hope returned to an expression of defeat and shame. "You made it on national news, too!"

"What do you mean?" Gumball walks to the entrance of his little cell. All that was there was a little barred window that muffled quite a bit of the sound. If Gumball stayed quiet he could easily hear everything he said. Despite it being transparent, it was too high for either of them to see each other.

"You're famous! All over the news, Future Gumball!. 'Crazy Cailfornian Cat Chases Crush Carelessly!'," Both Gumballs hesitated for a minute. "Perhaps it doesn't paint you in the best light, but what you did was insane! You've caught the attention of the entire nation. Everyone is talking about you. Your adventure, your tactics and, most importantly, your motive." Gumball couldn't believe that he was getting a message from his past self. "Gumball, don't quit. Not now. You've already gone so far. If you made it all the way here and still managed to reach Penny..." The other side went quiet for a bit. Now he was getting emotional. "You won't let a door stop you, won't it?"

Gumball has gotten the approval of himself in the past, not bothering to question how or when he got to Las Vegas. "Now get out there and win her-"

* * *

Gumball woke up suddenly, the sound of his door being banged on grating his ears. So that really was all a dream, just like his nightmare in the sewers. However, he didn't let the message slip from his mind. He couldn't give up. Once more, he glanced at the sink and toilet. Perhaps he might be under police custody, but that didn't mean anything to Gumball. He had trudged through miles of difficulty, but it wasn't over yet, not for him.

It was time for him to rise.

* * *

**And also time for this story to rise.**

**I know, years long of a hiatus is not the best image, but I'm going to be trying to finish up this story as soon as possible. At this point, there really is no excuse for me; I slacked off with other stories. Anyways, I'm hoping to get this finished soon, so, wish me luck! Sit tight and grab a loaf. This is going to be one wild ride.**

**Thanks anyways!  
-DWalkthroughGuy**


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